Infrastructure Bank Awards $4.9 Million in Municipal Resilience Program Action Grants

Earlier this month we announced the awarding of $4.9 million in Action Grants to 12 communities that have participated in our Municipal Resilience Program (MRP). These grants will allow our municipal partners to accelerate investments in critical infrastructure and nature-based solutions that will better prepare communities for a changing climate.

Examples of MRP Action Grant projects include:
Tiverton: A $228,000 MRP Action Grant to the Town of Tiverton to address longstanding challenges at Fogland Beach, Tiverton’s largest and most important recreational beach, and Fogland Conservation Area, a healthy salt marsh threatened by stormwater runoff and sea level rise.
Tiverton's Fogland Beach
North Kingstown: A $670,000 MRP Action Grant to the Town Of North Kingstown to mitigate stormwater impacts at the end of Roger Williams Drive and to implement low impact stormwater management with enhanced green infrastructure to adapt to changing coastal conditions, mitigate stormwater runoff, and address high tide flooding at the municipal waterfront parking lot in Wickford Village.
Wickford Village in North Kingstown
Newport: A $60,000 Municipal Resilience Action Grant to the City of Newport to improve public waterfront access, stormwater management, and erosion control on Pine Street at the southern edge of Battery Park, overlooking Newport Harbor.
Battery Park in Newport
Providence: $845,000 in Municipal Resilience Action Grants to the City of Providence to improve the water quality of Mashapaug Pond and to install emergency generators at Davey Lopes Recreation Center and Elmwood Community Center.
Mashapaug Pond in Providence
Click here for a full list of 2022 MRP Action Grant awards.
6 Communities Selected to Participate in the 2022 Round of the Municipal Resilience Program

In addition to awarding MRP Action Grants, we also named six municipalities who will participate in the 2022 round of the MRP. This is the fourth round of the program and increases the number of participating communities to 26.

Selected 2022 municipalities:

  • Burrillville
  • Charlestown
  • Glocester
  • Lincoln
  • Narragansett
  • Richmond

2022 program participants will complete a planning process that brings together climate change information and local knowledge to identify top hazards, current challenges, and community strengths. This process will identify priority projects and strategies to improve resilience to natural and climate-related hazards using a flexible, tested approach called Community Resilience Building (CRB).

Identified projects will then be eligible to apply for MRP Action Grant funding.
Infrastructure Bank Closes on $20 Million Loan to Kent County Water Authority for New Administration and Maintenance Facility

On April 29th we closed on a $20 million loan to the Kent County Water Authority, allowing them to move forward with the construction of a new energy efficient administration and maintenance facility in West Greenwich. Financing was provided through our Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Efficient Buildings Fund programs.

According to Kent County Water Authority Executive Director and Chief Engineer David Simmons:

“We have significantly outgrown our current facility, and that is why we are so pleased to partner with the Infrastructure Bank on a $20 million financing package that will allow us to build a brand new, state -of-the-art energy efficient administration and maintenance facility to better serve our customers. In addition to meeting the spatial needs for future growth and an enhanced customer service experience, we are excited about the many energy efficiency features that will be integrated into the new building including a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system, LED lighting, and enhanced insulation, just to name a few. In addition, the new facility will feature solar panels and charging stations for a fleet of electric vehicles. Combined, these elements will result in significant energy cost savings for the Authority and our customers while simultaneously moving toward our 100/100 goal to provide 100 % of the water service utilizing 100 % renewable energy sources. We want to thank the Infrastructure Bank for working with us to help make this important project a reality.”
Infrastructure Bank In The News

A combined $750,000 in newly acquired grants will pay for infrastructure improvements to address chronic flooding on Industrial Road, the town’s largest commercial business park, as well as invest in a new tree cover in Valley Falls and Lonsdale.

Barrington will receive a grant as part of the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank’s Municipal Resilience Program. The grant, which totals $249,521, will be used to make improvements at the town’s municipal tree nursery, and also for shoreline adaptation and resilience projects. The shoreline work will take place in a number of locations in town, including at Woodbine Avenue, Adams Avenue, Watson Avenue, Clark Road, and Water Way. 

“Each of the projects makes the city more climate resilient while also improving water quality at two important city parks,” said City Planning and Economic Development Director Bill Fazioli, whose department initiated the grant applications.

The Pawtucket Water Supply Board will be the award recipient of a $28,500 grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, it announced last week . . . More recently, Pawtucket and Central Falls also were awarded Municipal Resilience Action Grants from the RIIB, and those total $678,600. They will go to two parklets, one in each city, along the Pine Street corridor in the Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Oriented Development District; they will incorporate green infrastructure for water quality and flood reduction benefits.

The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank recently awarded $4.9 million in grants to 12 cities and towns to pay for projects that improve their resilience to climate change.