166 Maine communities awarded $8M to strengthen climate resilience

A person rows a skiff on a flooded street.

FILE PHOTO / FRED FIELD The working waterfront on Custom House Wharf in Portland, seen during a storm in January 2024.

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Riverbank stabilization, battery-based backup power, heat pump installations and lighting upgrades are among the climate initiatives underway in 166 communities that received a total of $8 million in grants earlier this month.

The money comes through the Community Resilience Partnership, established in 2021 and is one of a number of storm preparedness and recovery programs created or renewed by legislation signed into law in April.

The goal of the partnership is to help communities protect people, businesses and infrastructure from flooding, storm surge and other climate effects.

The $8 million is the partnership’s largest ever round of funding and the 166 projects are the most of any grant round since the partnership was established, according to a news release.

"Through the Community Resilience Partnership, communities across our state are becoming more prepared for flooding, storm surge, rising sea levels and other climate effects that put lives and livelihoods at risk,” said Gov. Janet Mills.

Mills announced the fifth round of funds in Kennebunkport, where a partnership grant of $75,000 will support installation of a tide gauge in the Kennebunk River this spring. The installation is part of the town's broader initiative to develop a plan to prevent and mitigate flooding and improve resilience in the Dock Square riverfront area.

“It allows us to continue the important work of understanding and addressing the flood risks facing the Kennebunk River and Dock Square,” said Laurie Smith, Kennebunkport’s town manager. “This area is not only vulnerable — it's the heart of our town's economy and identity.”

The program provides municipalities an avenue for addressing resilience-related investments, said Catherine Conlow, executive director of the Maine Municipal Association.

"Continued funding for the program will help municipalities implement locally identified improvements, while mitigating the impacts on their already overburdened property taxpayers,” said Conlow.

Projects include:

Dover-Foxcroft will make energy-efficiency upgrades at a warming and cooling shelter;
Jay will shore up two critical culverts;
Hallowell will stabilize the riverbank along the downtown waterfront;
Newcastle plans to add battery-based backup power to a solar array at the fire station.

The grants have supported other local initiatives to reduce emissions and costs to taxpayers through heat pump installations, lighting upgrades and other energy efficiency upgrades.

In its first year, the program met its goal to assist 100 communities. With the latest round, 263 communities have received grants, more than halfway toward the new goal set in the state’s 2024 climate plan update to have 80% of Maine communities participating in the partnership by 2030.

Funding for the grants comes from the supplemental budget signed by Mills in May 2024. The investment followed severe storms in December 2023 and January 2024 that caused an estimated $90 million in damage to public infrastructure in Maine.

The grants are also partially funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and $3 million authorized by the Legislature in 2023.

With the latest round, the partnership increased its maximum award to communities from $50,000 to $75,000. Two or more entities could also jointly apply for up to $175,000, an increase from $125,000 in previous rounds.

Since 2021, the partnership has awarded $18.8 million in grants to Maine towns, cities, tribal governments and regional planning, economic development, and community organizations.

The partnership is administered by the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.