“I’m pleased to announce that Sunrise Ecologic, LLC has been granted Service Provider funds to help the towns of Boothbay, Southport, Boothbay Harbor, and Wiscasset enroll in the Community Resilience Partnership,” says Shri Verrill, founder and principal of Sunrise Ecologic.

The Community Resilience Partnership (CRP) is a program administered by the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation, and the Future to help implement strategic priorities identified in Maine’s Climate Action Plan, “Maine Won’t Wait!” To enroll in the program there are four steps that must be completed. The following is a summary.

For details visit https://www.maine.gov/future/climate/community-resilience-partnership/support)

1. Adopt a municipal resolution that establishes a citizen committee or designates a municipal employee to coordinate activities that make the community more resilient to climate change. Currently the towns are looking for suitable candidates to volunteer on the new municipal climate action committee in each of their towns. Members of the Maine Climate Council recognize the need to support additional capacity building at the local level. The people who step up to serve on these committees are expected to provide some of this additional capacity.

2. Complete two self-assessments to assess existing progress and identify potential next steps.
3. Hold a public workshop to review the self-assessment results and prioritize projects for implementation.
4. Submit each community’s enrollment materials.

Once these steps are complete each town may submit an application for up to $50,000 through the Community Action Grant, to spend on the top priority projects identified through the process. If two towns submit a joint application, they may seek a total of $125,000. This is expected to be sometime in late summer/early fall of 2023.

“I think that the heart of community resilience is connection. So, my primary objective is to make connections and facilitate coordinated cooperation so we can move forward together,” says Verrill.

Interested community members can reach out directly through the Website: www.sunriseecologic, Instagram: Sunrise Ecologic or Facebook page: @SunriseEcologic.