Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP)

On September 9th, 2019, the Town of Provincetown received Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) designation.  The Town is now certified as an “MVP community” and eligible for MVP action grant funding only available to MVP-certified communities, which the Town will use to implement its resiliency plans.  The letter of receipt from the state can be found here:

Town of Provincetown MVP Designation Letter

So what is MVP? 

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs awarded the Town of Provincetown a planning grant of $27,500.00 through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program to complete a community resiliency planning process to examine the Town’s vulnerabilities and strengths and identify priority actions to build resilience to climate change.  Town Staff, comprised of representatives from several departments, created an MVP "team," and worked with Woodard & Curran as its certified MVP provider to complete the prescribed process to become a certified community.

The keystone of the MVP Process was an 8-hour Community Resilience Building Workshop on March 15th at the Center for Coastal Studies.  55 People attended this workshop.   

Participants identified flooding, sea level rise, and severe storms/wind as the most critical natural hazard the Town faces, followed by coastal erosion, drought, fire, and extreme heat/cold.  Participants recommended ways to improve resiliency on each of these, and made the following recommendations on how these could be achieved:

  • Maintaining and managing outfall pipes in Provincetown and relocate or improve them where necessary (including Gosnold and Ryder Street).
  • Increasing the Town’s ability and capacity to pump water, such as through installing stormwater pump stations in key locations.
  • Moving forward with beach nourishment and sediment management projects including the construction of the Ryder Street Dune Enhancement project (currently in the design and permitting phase).
  • Identifying and implementing green solutions to address power outages such as solar power and rechargeable batteries.
  • Evaluating the need to elevate roadways in key locations to prevent critical infrastructure and/or developed areas from flood events and to prevent the road from flooding. Focus this evaluation on critical evacuation routes.
  • Developing a formal evacuation plan and shelter in place plan and have it include year round and seasonal resident scenarios. Engage the Coast Guard in this effort and consider evacuation by water (if necessary).
  • Securing a mobile medical unit that can serve as a backup or pop up hospital type of asset.
  • Improving existing cell and fiber optic service and making sure that any improvements consider flooding and sea level rise.

For those who may like to see more information on the March 15th workshop, please see links below to the power point presentation from Woodard and Curran, the plans listed in the presentation, the Inundations Pathway report from Mark Borrelli of the Center for Coastal Studies, the Shifting Sands of Provincetown seminar from Greg Berman of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, as well as other pertinent documents addressing next steps the Town wants to take, as well as programs currently in place. 

A great deal of gratitude goes out to Tim Famulare, the people who attended and participated in the Community Resilience Workshop, and the MVP team for putting this together.  


-Woodard and Curran PowerPoint Presentation Opening Presentation (PDF)

 -Woodard and Curran Provincetown Background Presentation (PDF)

 -Inundations Pathways by Mark Borrelli of the Center for Coastal Studies (PDF)

 -Shifting Sands of Provincetown by Greg Berman of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension (PDF)

-2018 Provincetown Harbor Management Plan Amendment(PDF)

-2016 Provincetown Hazard Mitigation Plan (PDF)

-2016 Coastal Resiliency Report (PDF)

-Provincetown Housing Playbook (PDF)

-Town of Provincetown Open Space and Recreation Plan (PDF)

-Special Assistance Information Form (PDF)

-Community Resilience Listening Session, Part I (Video)

-Community Resilience Listening Session, Part II (Video)

-2021 Provincetown Hazard Mitigation Plan (PDF)