The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program (MVP) provides support for cities and towns in Massachusetts to begin the process of planning for climate change resiliency and implementing priority projects. The state awards communities with funding to complete vulnerability assessments and develop action-oriented resiliency plans. Communities who complete the MVP program become certified as an MVP community and are eligible for MVP Action grant funding and other opportunities.

Holyoke’s MVP Plan can be viewed here: 2018 Holyoke MVP Report

Current MVP Project

MVP Day Brook II

This project consists of a combination of interrelated interventions aimed at reducing stormflow volume and improving water quality in Holyoke’s Day Brook watershed, as well as achieving associated human health and ecological co-benefits.

Day Brook is an intermittent stream that flows from headwaters in the mostly forested Crafts Hill/Anniversary Hill Park through several residential neighborhoods and downtown district, and ultimately joins the Connecticut River at Springdale Park. The majority of Day Brook’s historic trajectory through Holyoke (some 1.8 miles) was rerouted into underground pipes during the early 20th century.

As the flow enters Holyoke’s Oakdale neighborhood, the stream joins pipes carrying sanitary sewage from nearby homes and businesses, terminating at the wastewater treatment plant adjacent to the Connecticut River. Heavy storm events produce flows that exceed plant capacity, bypass treatment, and directly directly the Connecticut River as combined sewer overflows. These events also sometimes cause the volume in the pipe carrying Day Brook and wastewater to exceed capacity in the pipe itself (evident in localized flooding), causing damage to private and public property.

This project seeks to address the following objectives:

• Reduce incidence of localized flooding and raw sewage overflows into the Connecticut River through the strategic deployment of nature based green infrastructure BMPs in the Day Brook Watershed at Sullivan School and Holyoke High School North Campus
• Improve the overall resilience of Holyoke’s stormwater infrastructure in an era of more frequent heavy rain events
  Mitigate the harmful health impacts of urban heat island and improve wildlife habitat connectivity by replacing impervious land cover with native vegetation
• Build on previous efforts to promote and enhance public awareness of our community's water issues and educate youth and the public on the importance of green infrastructure

To accomplish these objectives the City has partnered with Fuss & O'Neill as the contracted consultant and Holyoke Boys and Girls Club and Artemente for a STEAM residency at Sullivan School. During the 2024-2025 school year, 6th grade students at Sullivan School engaged in place-based arts integrated workshops and activities that creatively explored storm drain runoff and pollution, demonstrated how green infrastructure is designed and implemented, and built their sense of stewardship over our City's land and water.

Artwork and a video of the experience can be found here: Day Brook Artwork , Day Brook Video

Past MVP Projects

Impervious Surface Mapping for Resilience and Implementation (2020)

The goal of this project was to develop an actionable, scalable, and data-driven impervious surface reduction plan to improve municipal resiliency. Phases of work included development of a mitigation plan with impervious surface reduction targets and recommendations for their implementation. The final plan can be viewed and downloaded here: Holyoke Impervious Surfaces Mitigation Plan

The project also included the development of a planimetric data layer map showing impervious surface cover of different types across all of Holyoke. The final map produced by Sanborn can be downloaded here: Holyoke Citywide Impervious Surfaces 2020