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Regional Resilience Initiative Wins $2M NOAA Grant; Aquinnic Island to Hire Staff and Create Action Plan
Summary
City staff reported a four-year, $2 million NOAA-funded regional resilience grant to coordinate climate and coastal resilience across Aquinnic Island. The grant will fund staff, technical assistance, community engagement and an island‑wide climate resilience action plan.
The council received an update on a newly funded regional resilience coordination project for Aquinnic Island, which the presentation said received nearly $2,000,000 through NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.
Paige Myatt, Director of Climate Resilience (hosted by the Aquinnic Island Land Trust), described a four‑year capacity-building award that will provide grant-writing, project-management and engagement support to municipalities, fund two staff positions (a resilience and sustainability specialist and a community engagement manager) and develop an online living climate resilience action plan for the island. The project will advance water-quality, stormwater and coastal resilience, ecological restoration, multimodal transportation planning and emergency preparedness, and aims to sustain initiatives beyond the NOAA grant period through a long-term governance framework.
Why it mattered: The award is competitive (the application cited 19 projects selected nationally from over 870 applicants) and will fund local staff capacity that municipalities on the island have told the presenters they lacked for implementation. Myatt said the project will prioritize short- and long-term actions and help municipalities apply for and manage federal and state resilience funds.
What was asked: Councilors asked about grant stability under the current federal administration and whether the funding is at risk; Myatt said the grant agreement is signed and the team is drawing down funds, but the project will continue to monitor federal grant landscape and work closely with NOAA grants management. Council members also asked about coordination with Naval Station Newport on vulnerable military infrastructure; presenters said they are working with the Navy’s community liaison and will consider military installation resilience recommendations.
Next steps: The regional effort will host a public kickoff event (April 22 at Newport Vineyards as announced in the presentation), hire staff and begin development of a publicly accessible action plan and project prioritization. The project will support demonstration projects including watershed and water-supply resilience, beach resilience, bike/ped improvements and a nature-based project in the Northeast Corner of a local pond.
Ending: Councilors supported the initiative and highlighted the value of local staff capacity to turn previous planning into implementable projects.
