With climate change our new reality, it's time to invest in a more resilient Rhody
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These are all excellent investments, but the reality is the demand for limited resilience grant funding has greatly exceeded available resources. Indeed, the Infrastructure Bank typically receives funding requests from our cities and towns that are double and triple what is available through Municipal Resilience Program Action Grants.
That is why we have introduced legislation at the General Assembly to create the
The fund would work by creating a revolving source of low-interest loan financing for municipal resilience projects, similar to Rhode Island's
Not only are resilient infrastructure improvements important to the basic functioning of our communities, they are also an excellent investment. According to a
The time has come to move beyond planning for extreme weather events and to dedicate resources toward solutions. Our state has made real progress upgrading infrastructure to make it more resilient to the impacts of climate change, and now is the time to create a reliable, long-term source of funding so our cities and towns can build a Resilient Rhody.
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James Diossa is Rhode Island's General Treasurer, Vahid Ownjazayeri is chair of the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank's Board of Directors, and William Fazioli is the executive director of the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank.
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