The Great Neck Village Officials Association was named one of 14 recipients of grants from the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program, aimed at bolstering shoreline resiliency and sustainability for communities located on the Long Island Sound.
“The Great Neck Village Officials Association is honored and pleased to be one of the awardees for a project to identify, conceptualize and develop resilience to changing environmental conditions,” said Steven Weinberg, president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association and mayor of the Village of Thomaston. “Nine Villages and the Town of North Hempstead make up the Great Neck peninsula. The opportunity to assess risk and to have a plan for shore restoration and flood mitigation to be adopted and implemented by the Villages across the Great Neck peninsula is a vital and welcome development in intermunicipal work for all of our residents.”
The Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program awarded $909,121 this year to 14 organizations located in New York and Connecticut along the sound. The program is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, otherwise known as the EPA.
The program was crafted with the intent of bridging a gap between local communities and the necessary resources to bolster shoreline resiliency, which the organization has noted is the largest barrier for such projects.
Local organizations are not only given the funds to conduct these resiliency projects, but they are also matched with a qualified contractor to fulfill the necessary work for them.
The Great Neck Village Officials Association was granted $99,552 dedicated to an environmental risk and vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan, the second-highest amount awarded to a group in New York. The contract to conduct this plan was awarded to the Woods Hole Group.
“Throughout my 30-plus years in public service, I have dedicated myself to cleaning up pollution in and around the Long Island Sound, reducing nitrogen emissions from sewage treatment plants and stormwater runoff, and restoring and reseeding shellfishing beds in our harbors,” said Congressman Tom Suozzi (D–Glen Cove). “Since coming to Congress in 2017, I have helped deliver a 1,000% increase in funding to improve the Long Island Sound. I am grateful for the bipartisan and collaborative efforts of many, including New York Sea Grant, the Long Island Sound Partnership, and the EPA, who have overseen significant improvements in water quality, including in Great Neck, whose award we are celebrating today. Protecting and preserving the Long Island Sound, our ‘National Park,’ is a top priority and a shared responsibility.”
This is the second round of the program, which is a collaboration between New York Sea Grant, Connecticut Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership. The program was first launched in October 2023.
The third round of the program is now accepting applications, with up to $1.5 million available to be distributed. Applications will be accepted until Jan. 30.
