By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Franklin County, MA) 2023 Grant recipients in the Massachusetts’ Efficiency and Regionalization program have been announced this week and the Franklin Regional Council of Government has received an award in the amount of $171,000 for regional rural downtown district projects. The funds will support downtown projects in Buckland, Greenfield, Montague, and Shelburne.
The Franklin Regional Council of Government has also received a $147,855 grant for regional emergency preparation to support coordinating emergency preparedness efforts with Franklin County partners including the towns of Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately.
Another local Efficiency and Regionalization 2023 grant for $75,000 to support regional senior planning is going to the towns of Whately, Sunderland, and Deerfield.
“The Community Compact Cabinet, let by Lieutenant Governor Polito, has been a cornerstone of our Administration’s efforts to forge a stronger partnership between the state and local governments,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Through its efforts, the Community Compact Program has successfully institutionalized a culture of collaboration, mutual accountability and support that will serve the Commonwealth’s communities and residents well going forward and make Massachusetts a better place to live and work.”
“It has been a privilege to serve as Chair of the Community Compact Cabinet and to work alongside so many dedicated municipal officials across the Commonwealth to create a sustainable and effective model for state-local collaboration,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “Through the Community Compact programs, we are proud to have supported over 1,400 initiatives to improve local services and infrastructure across all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns. I am pleased to announce 78 new grant awards today, which will support technology and efficiency projects that will benefit residents in more than 150 communities.”
The Efficiency and Regionalization program is one of four programs in the Community Compact Cabinet. According to Mass.gov the Efficiency and Regionalization “program helps municipalities provide services to their constituents in a more efficient and cost-effective way. Funds are used for the planning and implementation of regionalization initiatives (such as shared services) and for efficiency efforts to improve local service delivery. Since being launched in Fiscal Year 2017, a total of $9.1 million has been provided through 103 grants that have supported 287 municipalities and school districts.”