Cranston, Johnston, and West Warwick participate in Municipal Resilience Program

Cranston, RI Late this summer three municipalities – the city of Cranston, the town of Johnston, and the town of West Warwick - have been selected to participate in the RI Infrastructure Bank’s Municipal Resilience Program (MRP).

Cranston and Johnston join West Warwick, who was accepted earlier this year, as the three newest participants to be welcomed into the MRP through its new rolling MRP participation application process.

Communities participating in the MRP complete a workshop process designed to identify priority projects and strategies to improve the municipality’s resilience to natural and climate-related hazards. Communities completing the MRP process are then eligible for action grants to implement resilient infrastructure solutions.

As seen with recent extreme rainfall and flooding events, Rhode Island’s infrastructure needs to be made more resilient to the impacts of climate change. That’s what the MRP is all about, helping our municipal partners identify key resilience challenges, plan solutions, and qualify for grant funding to implement resilient infrastructure solutions. MRP looks forward to working with Cranston, Johnston, and West Warwick as they participate in the Municipal Resilience Program process.

35 out 39 Rhode Island municipalities have signed up for the MRP. With help from the Nature Conservancy, 33 have completed Community Resilience Building workshops and developed prioritized lists of actionable resilience plans and projects. Municipalities are then eligible to submit applications for MRP Action Grants with a 25% local match requirement. To date, the Bank has awarded more than $7 million in MRP Action Grants to 16 municipalities across the state. In 2022, Rhode Island voters approved the Question 3 Green Bond, including $16 million for MRP Action Grants.