The Funding Freeze and Clawback Yoyo Is not Over–And It Affects You
More than half of Alliance funding comes either directly or indirectly from federal sources enabled by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and in some cases from the State, whose funding comes from the IRA and BIL. Much of the freeze was blocked by the federal judges who are protecting the right of Congress to control spending and create a federal budget that supports agencies created by Congress, but grant programs are considered “discretionary,” and unprotected. In other words, EPA or NOAA directors can direct the grants or spending to coastal communities most vulnerable to pollution or flooding and youth engagement programs, or not, as they see fit.
How our communities are affected:
The LIS Community Impact funds we had for running the youth programming, and Design Circles were frozen and then just today unfrozen. Had they not been unfrozen, we would not be getting reimbursed for the money we have already laid out last quarter (over 30,000). We have educational experiences lined up for middle schoolers, including field trips, and visits from shellfish farmers and cultural educators, and five more multi-generational Design Circles that will yield a new depth of learning as well as community feedback and recommendations for our Watershed Resilience Action Plan. While the money came back this time, there are
Other projects in jeopardy–
The Watershed Resilience Action Plan itself – building it, drafting it, committing to it
Model retrofits and renovations to breathe clean air and healthy materials into building projects for our most vulnerable communities and to develop a cutting edge regenerative building workforce development collaboration
The Fishway into Long Pond providing access to spawning for struggling River Herring populations and necessary dam repairs to protect all of the community along Whitford Brook and Old Mystic.
A full Community Learning Program addressing the knowledge and planning needs to help build resilience throughout the watershed and beyond.
We are deeply concerned about any reductions in public (federal or state) spending that supports our resilience in the face of accelerating climate impacts and which protects human and environmental health - we are the environment after all.
We visited with 7th graders in Stonington over the last few days. They helped us put it succinctly: Resilience is “working together to overcome obstacles.”
Here’s what we can do together…
Stand together. The Alliance is made up of all of us, and we remain committed to our flourishing into future generations. “There is no power greater than a community discovering what it wants,” and we are in this powerful process together. It’s much harder to knock down a forest than it is to knock down a single tree. During this time of uncertainty, we can focus on building our resilience by nurturing our relationships–with each other, with land and water and all living beings, envisioning what kind of life we want, and navigating toward that.
Advocate for waterwise policy and funding at the State and local level. The legislature is in session now, and there are bills about protecting communities by protecting wetlands, protecting pollinators and other animals from pesticides, as well as clean energy policies and an opportunity to establish an Environmental Rights Amendment and a host of other important bills. Here's how to keep track: https://www.cga.ct.gov/ (you can click on Committees to get to the bills and agendas for committees you want to follow). You can write to your state legislators with your views (you don’t have to use the CGA testimony portal, but you can!). You can also ask them to fund groups that are working on community resilience with the state emergency-relief fund interest surplus, or with a portion of the rooms tax on tourism. Tell them we need to protect water from people and people from water right now.
Seek more private funding, including donations and foundation funds as well as accelerating our involvement in the Bioregional Regenerative Finance movement to work towards a Trust for the Mystic River Region. We are already supported by amazing private funders such as the Community Foundation of Eastern CT and the Network for Landscape Conservation, and are open to new relationships!! We are deeply thankful to all of our donors!
Establish aligned sponsorships–Do you work for a corporation or sit on the Board of a fund whose values are aligned with ours? We would love to talk with you. Our 2nd birthday is on April 30. How about an early birthday gift before tax day?
Keep doing the work–listening to and nurturing each other and co-creating solutions that we own for our Watershed Resilience Action Plan, supporting youth leadership, engaging in water monitoring and pollution control, improving habitats, caring for and advocating for River Herring and other keystone species of concern, and creating a learning environment that not only helps people plan and act together, but also develops innovative ways to resource our communities and builds a cutting edge green workforce.
We believe in the power of communities where people look out for each other and work together (see photo above). This basic sense of care and responsibility creates the conditions for thriving today and for future generations–what our mission is about. We are an extraordinary Alliance among four towns and two Tribal Nations who have not collaborated before, but who have committed to collaborating now. We are staying focused on what we can all trust, no matter our background or political leanings, that water and all the life it supports matters to us.
We urgently need your support as we stay afloat in these turbulent waters, whether financial, volunteering, hugs…to continue bringing our communities together in learning, planning, and action. Some of our donors have already given again. Would you consider it??
With gratitude for you and in solidarity with you, Maggie and Z
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