Click here to view this email in your browser.

CommonWealth Beacon Download. Politics, Ideas, & Civic Life in Massachusetts.

New from CommonWealth Beacon

HOT FLASH: Heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the US, and Boston has not been built to withstand it, Maya Mitchell reports. Experts are seeing symptoms of illnesses like asthma and seasonal allergies worsening, exacerbated by rising temperatures.

OPINION: It will take bold leadership at the state and local levels to expose our accelerating achievement gaps and build support for changing literacy instruction to improve outcomes for the students who need it most, writes the Mass Reads Coalition.

Without FEMA resilience money, Mass. communities scramble to save flood prevention projects

May 2, 2025

By Jennifer Smith

When the axe fell on $882 million in federal funding aimed at helping communities prepare for future flooding, it came paired with a critique of the program’s very purpose.

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program “was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” an unidentified FEMA spokesperson wrote in a press release on April 4. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

Emily Granoff, Chelsea’s deputy director of housing and community development, was assisting another community with smaller scale grant work before the BRIC cuts were announced. Seeing the news, that community reached out to see if their funding was impacted, and Granoff assured them that it wasn’t.

But Chelsea and Everett had money on the line – a $120 million flood resilience project for the Island End River that included a storm surge barrier, storm surge control facility, and wetland restoration set to begin construction in 2026.

“And I looked up the press release,” Granoff said. “And then I cried for a bit.”

The local toll wouldn’t be felt fully for two weeks, when Massachusetts estimated that some $90 million in funding and potential grants would be pulled, almost $50 million of which was dedicated to the Chelsea and Everett endeavor. Overnight, project managers overseeing resilient park and stormwater flooding projects, updating drinking water and watershed regulations, and preparing for the best ways to hold rising waters at bay rushed to triage.

More ContexT

FEMA quietly removes access to New England coastal erosion hazard tool
Rising waters: navigating flooding in Mass. (Read/Listen)
When the river rises

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Accelerating the clean energy transformation, powering the climatetech economy. MassCEC.com

More from CommonWealth Beacon

IT TAKES A VILLAGE: In the absence of federal funding and support, many municipalities are still working to meet state goals to decarbonize. Bhaamati Borkhetaria explores local efforts to reduce emissions, even while most towns and cities remain reliant on the state to make major changes, and the state tends to move at a slow pace.

ROADBLOCKS: With the rollback of federal funding and support, Massachusetts cities and towns are facing fresh challenges on their paths to net zero carbon emissions. Bhaamati Borkhetaria has more.

OPINION: Calling autism an “epidemic,” as RFK Jr. has, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how autism is identified and diagnosed, writes Brenda Dater, the executive director of the Association for Autism and Neurodiversity. We should be focusing on what really matters: recognizing the value of every person and ensuring that autistic people have the support and community they need to lead meaningful, connected lives.

What We're Reading

POLITICS: It’s been 100 days of the second Trump administration, and the firehose of federal action hasn’t missed Massachusetts. WBUR breaks down 100(ish) changes in the Bay State during Trump's whirlwind (second) first 100 days. (WBUR)

EDUCATION: Sandwich Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Maruszczak warned that deferred maintenance has caused infrastructure across the district to deteriorate. More money will be needed, he said, than the $40.8 million in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. (Cape Cod Times – paywall)

RELIGION: UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco reflects on his many encounters with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man who became Pope Francis. (Dorchester Reporter)

IMMIGRATION: Homeland Security agents are now doing unplanned “wellness checks” on immigrant children, worrying lawyers, advocates, and guardians. (GBH News)

EDUCATION: Harvard’s image as a beacon of resistance to Trump DEI crackdowns is already faltering. It renamed its “Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging” to “Community and Campus Life” and said in internal emails that it would no longer fund, staff or provide space for affinity graduations. (MassLive)