New York State Finances Matching Grants to Facilitate Resiliency Projects
Photo source: New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
New York State is experiencing a variety of hazards and impacts including heat events, sea-level rise, and more frequent and intense flooding. Since 1970, annual statewide average temperatures have increased by three degrees Fahrenheit, which is already causing widespread impacts on New York's communities and ecosystems.
Recognizing the important role that local decision makers can play in increasing the resilience of their communities the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program was established in 2009 to support local governments in taking climate action. This program is a coalition of:
- Department of Environmental Conservation
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
- Department of Public Service
- Department of State
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Health
- New York Power Authority
Administered by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, CSC provides 50/50 matching grants to New York’s towns, villages, counties, and boroughs to support risk assessments, preparedness and resiliency planning, and mitigation projects. In addition to funding, the State provides communities with access to CSC Program coordinators who can help facilitate community outreach, education, and capacity-building. These activities are designed to support future scenario planning and the development of preparedness and resilience plans.
In 2022, CSC made a total of $12 million available for implementing projects, with a minimum grant award of $50,000 and a maximum of $2 million. The grants can fund a broad range of eligible initiatives, including projects that:
- Increase natural resiliency and decrease vulnerability to future flood risks.
- Relocate or retrofit critical infrastructure to reduce future flood risks.
- Replace or right-size barriers to hydrologic/water flow to facilitate emergency response or protect people, infrastructure, and natural resources.
- Address anticipated future heat events.
- Improve emergency preparedness and response systems for hazards and impacts from natural disasters.
Climate Smart Communities Certification Program
In 2014, CSC launched the Climate Smart Communities Certification Program to document and celebrate the accomplishments of communities taking action. This additional certification step provides local governments with a robust framework to:
- Organize local actions and highlight priorities.
- Streamline access to resources, training, tools, and expert guidance.
- Improve scores on grant applications for securing additional state funding.
To be designated as a Certified CSC, a municipality must first adopt a CSC Pledge to reduce emissions and prepare for changing conditions in the environment and then complete and document a suite of actions that mitigate and prepare at the local level.
While the CSC Program originally focused on encouraging local governments to commit to preparedness and resiliency action through the CSC Pledge, the 2014 Certification Program represents the next step in the evolution of the overall Program by providing specific guidance on how to implement the CSC Pledge. In 2022, the CSC Certification Program committed a total of $2 million in grant funding to support the implementation of certification actions and 365 local governments (representing communities of over 9.4 million New Yorkers) adopted the CSC Pledge. Of these communities, 105 are designated as Certified CSCs. Examples of certified communities and their efforts to build resilience include:
- The Town of New Castle, which developed a vulnerability assessment in 2021 as part of its Hazard Mitigation Plan. The assessment identified multiple hazards, including higher than average temperatures, severe winter storms, flooding, and wildfires.
- The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, which adopted a Heat Emergency Plan in 2020 to establish protocols for heat emergencies and provide strategies to support vulnerable populations within the Village. To develop the plan, Hastings-on-Hudson convened a group of key stakeholders in 2019 to discuss current heat emergency management systems and their effectiveness in addressing high-heat events. After several months, the stakeholder group developed a working draft of the Heat Emergency Plan and invited input from key constituencies including the Village Department Heads, the Village Emergency Management Team, residents, and local elected officials.
- Orange County, which released a County Comprehensive Plan, which recommends strategies to guide local policies and plans that will reduce vulnerabilities, conserve natural resources, and make communities more resilient to changing conditions. Based on a natural resources inventory and vulnerability assessment that reflects the results of several years of outreach and research, this plan analyzed hazards and impacts and preparedness strategies according to the unique characteristics, threats, and needs of each of the county’s major watersheds.
- The Village of Irvington, which assessed its water courses and water bodies to complete the Irvington Flood Study in 2011. The study, which served as the basis for developing the Village’s long-term capital plan, identifies problematic flooding areas, provides recommendations for alleviating risk-driven flooding conditions, and examines the impacts of flooding on neighboring public and private properties.
| How Did They Do It? | Applicable Tools |
|---|---|
Assessed potential hazards and impacts and vulnerabilities. Local and state agencies throughout New York developed vulnerability assessments to identify, analyze, and prioritize hazards and risks, such as flooding, heat events, and drought. CSC provides resources and examples for local governments to use when developing their own vulnerability assessments. | Tools used: The New York State Department of Health Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) identifies areas in New York State with high proportions of heat-vulnerable populations.
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Evaluated policies for resilience. CSC developed the Climate Smart Resiliency Planning (CSRP) tool for local governments to evaluate the resilience of their existing policies. | Tools used: Climate Smart Resiliency Planning (CSRP) tool is a self-administered planning assessment tool designed to stimulate ideas, discussion, and collaboration among local government staff and officials. The CSRP tool helps local decision makers make early progress on preparedness and resiliency and creates an opportunity to integrate changing conditions considerations into local government operations. |
Connected local governments to CSC Coordinators.
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Similar Cases and More Information
To see how New York City has adapted to prepare for heat events, view the NYC Heat Preparedness case study. To view a case study that identified and actively engaged vulnerable communities in adaptation planning for heat events, see the Chicago Heat Emergency Response study. For another regional example of local communities preparing for hazards and impacts, see the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Identified Smart Growth Strategies for More Resilient Communities example.
- NYC Heat Preparedness
- Chicago Heat Emergency Response
- Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Identified Smart Growth Strategies for More Resilient Communities