Chelsea was named a 2025 All-America City by the National Civic League, city officials announced during Chelsea Day celebrations.

The honor recognized a suite of community-led environmental and equity initiatives that city leaders and partners described onstage, including a community microgrid, a neighborhood cooling and tree-planting program, a new community park created from a vacant lot, and a network of air-quality sensors developed with an academic partner. Rebecca Trout, director of the All-America City Award program for the National Civic League, told the crowd the award highlights inclusive engagement and innovation.

“We have recognized over 500 communities in the award’s history,” Trout said, describing the award’s focus on inclusive community engagement and noting this year’s theme of environmental sustainability. She said the National Civic League’s jury was impressed by Chelsea’s emphasis on equity, language access and anti-displacement efforts.

City Manager Fidel said the recognition was the result of sustained local work. “What we got in Chelsea is a lot of heart, it’s a lot of passion, and it’s a lot of grit,” Fidel said, calling the award “an unbelievable achievement, particularly for a small city like Chelsea, Massachusetts.”

Speakers outlined the projects that formed the application. Kate Foxlett, Chelsea’s commissioner of public works, described long-standing air-quality impacts in the city and the city’s work to monitor pollution. City speakers said Chelsea has installed a network of air-quality sensors and is using the data to identify high-pollution locations and shipping-hour spikes; officials said that data is being used to inform safer truck routing and public-health messaging. The city cited partnerships with Northeastern University and local schools on the monitoring work.

The city also described the Cool Block and TreeKeeper initiatives, which aim to reduce neighborhood heat through tree planting, cooler pavement and community-designed public spaces. Emily Granoff of the City of Chelsea said crews replaced sidewalks with a lighter-colored concrete in one pilot neighborhood and transformed a vacant lot into a community park with shade and seating. Granoff said the lot will reopen this summer as a permanent park with fountains, benches and tree canopy after a grant-funded build-out.

Ben Kears, speaking for the city, emphasized that the projects involved outreach and local hires. He said the city paid residents on a pilot block to plant and maintain trees and trained local ambassadors to help shape interventions so they reflect residents’ priorities rather than only engineering plans.

Speakers also described a planned community microgrid intended to provide resilient power to critical community facilities during outages. “This isn’t just a technical project. It’s a community-first project,” said Jen Hassell, director of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, who said feasibility work is complete and community engagement is under way. Officials said the microgrid will begin by connecting solar panels at the Department of Public Works yard and will prioritize emergency services, senior housing, food distribution sites and shelters; as it grows, officials said it may connect community centers and low-income housing. Funding details and full timelines were not specified during the remarks.

City Councilor Lisa Santegate framed the microgrid in terms of climate justice, saying it aims to keep services running “so that no one is left behind when disaster strikes.” Sergeant Star Chung of the Chelsea Police Department and other local leaders underscored equity, immigrant inclusion and bilingual engagement in the city’s approach.

The National Civic League delegation that presented the award said Chelsea’s nomination emphasized partnerships among government, schools, nonprofits and residents. Winners were selected at a national forum that included presentations by youth, business representatives and government officials; the city brought part of that presentation back to Chelsea Day.

Officials and partner organizations named during the presentation included the City of Chelsea, GreenRoots, Northeastern University, Chelsea High School, Bright Academy, the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and the National Civic League. Specific grant amounts and schedules for each project were not detailed in the remarks.

Chelsea leaders said the projects are ongoing and framed the All-America City recognition as a milestone rather than a conclusion.

A roster of speakers who addressed the award and projects during Chelsea Day included City Manager Fidel; Rebecca Trout of the National Civic League; State Representative Judith Garcia; Kate Foxlett, Chelsea DPW commissioner; Emily Granoff and Ben Kears of the City of Chelsea; Jen Hassell, director of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce; Lisa Santegate, Chelsea City Councilor, District 5; and Sergeant Star Chung of the Chelsea Police Department.