PVPC works to build resilience for municipalities and across the region by emphasizing community engagement and preparedness. Resiliency planning services include hazard mitigation planning (sometimes referred to as pre-disaster mitigation), municipal vulnerability preparedness planning including MVP 2.0 expertise, and climate action planning.
Climate Resilience & Hazard Mitigation
- Land Use & Environment
Overview
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 those municipalities with MVP designation to manage MVP 2.0 grants, 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.
Let's Work Together

Patty Gambarini
Chief Environment Plannerpgambarini@pvpc.org
Mimi Kaplan
Senior Land Use and Environment Plannermkaplan@pvpc.orgFeatured Projects
- Resources, Guides, & Toolkits
- Climate Resilience & Hazard Mitigation
- 3 Municipalities
- Resources, Guides, & Toolkits
- Climate Resilience & Hazard Mitigation
- Pioneer Valley
- Ongoing Projects
- Climate Resilience & Hazard Mitigation
- Williamsburg