Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Mayor Michelle Wu held a press conference with the Worker Empowerment Cabinet to celebrate the City of Boston receiving a sizable federal grant.
In the wake of hurricanes like Helene and Milton and ongoing climate change, Boston has planned to get ahead of future environmental emergencies.
The 9.8 million dollar grant will be used to fund a workforce focused on improving climate and coastal protections in the Greater Boston Area.
It would include construction jobs to create green infrastructure and rebuild seawalls, first responders to help during massive storms, and specialists to redesign wastewater systems.
The grant will also fund the Greater Boston Climate and Coastal Resilience Workforce Alliance, which will establish the training necessary for these jobs and make the paths for getting into said careers much more accessible.
“We will create and fill more than 1,200 coastal and climate resilience jobs over the next four years right here in Boston,” said Mayor Wu.
Jason Harris, owner of green construction company Parterre, showed support for the city’s plans, as he emphasized that more folks are needed for this kind of work.
“We need people,” he said. “We've grown from 20 people we're expecting to be somewhere near 40 people in our ecological division we do work from Cape Cod to Maine.”
The mayor made a point to also say that, as this grant is already under contract, there is legally no way for the incoming Trump Administration to roll it back.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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