Climate Resilience & Hazard Mitigation

Hazard Mitigation Plans are a critical process in resilience planning and involve the assessment of risks faced from natural hazards, a review of existing mitigation capabilities as well as previous mitigation strategies, the identification of new mitigation strategies to reduce hazard risks, and prioritization of these future mitigation strategies to implement. Plans are developed by staff and volunteers from each municipality, in collaboration with PVPC, with assistance from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and funding provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA requires that municipalities update local plans every 5 years to maintain eligibility for Hazard Mitigation funding. In calendar year 2025, PVPC is supporting nine (9) member communities with HMP updates:

• Amherst
• Belchertown
• Blandford
• Cummington
• Northampton
• Southampton
• Ware
• Westhampton
• Williamsburg

Previous hazard mitigation plans are available via municipality pages or contact staff.

Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP), managed by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), provides technical assistance for municipalities to complete climate vulnerability assessments, develop actionable resiliency plans and implement priority resilience projects. PVPC has supported member communities since the program’s adoption in 2017 to gain MVP designation and earn Action Grants to implement priority resilience projects and develop regional strategies to address shared concerns. PVPC also supports municipalities with MVP 2.0 work, which builds upon work completed to date by bringing the most vulnerable populations into the planning process to prioritize new climate actions that expand social resilience.