The looming threats of coastal flooding and projected sea level rise present daunting challenges for Boston’s crucial public and private infrastructure, residential areas, and developmental projects. In particular, it threatens several historic landmarks and cultural institutions – an issue that the Boston Children’s Museum knows well and has responded to aggressively through its Waterfront Initiative. Built on low lying or filled land, the entire Fort Point area is one of the most vulnerable areas in South Boston. The Fort Point Channel is a flood corridor into the Seaport and South Boston, and extreme weather events pose a direct threat to the Boston Children’s Museum.
As part of this GRCx, you will hear directly from the Boston Children’s Museum President & CEO Carole Charnow and Board of Trustees Chair David Healy about the ambitious resilience planning initiative that the Museum launched in 2019. This bold plan has required careful planning, tested the Museum’s financial resources, and forced the Board and leadership to navigate both external and internal questions. The Museum’s early actions to address vulnerability and enhance resilience serve as a case study for cultural institutions along with organizations in the Fort Point Channel, Boston Harbor, the Seaport, and other coastal communities.
This GRCx will go deeper into the Museum’s resilience efforts and the means by which they are seeking to obtain funds to support their plans. Charnow and Healy will recount and explain how they are introducing the multi-million dollar resiliency project, how they are engaging trustees and other key stakeholders, and what steps the Museum is taking to pursue federal and state funding to date. The program will close with an audience Q&A and discussion.
Speakers
- Carole Charnow, President and CEO, Boston Children’s Museum
- David Healy, Chair of Board of Trustees, Boston Children’s Museum
- Amy Longsworth, Executive Director, Boston Green Ribbon Commission – Moderator
About GRCx:
GRCx is an interactive program series from the Boston Green Ribbon Commission designed to accelerate the implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan by providing high-quality, useful content on climate resilience and carbon mitigation to the Boston community.