Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band Overview
Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band Overview is a tribal entity in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the central part of the state. They have a population over 2300 members.
Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band's Community Resilience Priorities
Community resilience priorities are practical actions created during the MVP 2.0 Planning Grant process. They were shaped through community input, thoughtful discussion about changing local needs, and feedback from Environmental Justice groups and other community members.
The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, in partnership with their Core Team, identified the following priorities through the MVP 2.0 process.
| Priorities | Potential Actions | |
|---|---|---|
| Priority 1: Improve communication and resilience during climate emergencies. | 
| Potential Actions: Plan, design, and construct (incorporating Resilient MA’s Climate Resistance Design Standards Tool) a safe community meeting and coordination center for the Nipmuc people to gather and coordinate activities, services, and disaster preparedness strategies. |
| Priority 2: Develop sustainable access to healthy, local, affordable food. | 
| Potential Actions: Establish a food pantry stocked by Nipmuc farmers and replicable health education programming for tribe members. |
| Priority 3: Increase access to affordable, resilient, energy efficient housing. | 
| Potential Actions: Create a Nipmuc Tribal Land Council to solicit government funding and subsidies for housing, build affordable, resilient, sustainable housing on Nipmuc land, and provide specialized housing for vulnerable Nipmuc populations. |
| Priority 4: Expand access to affordable, holistic healthcare for the Nipmuc people. | 
| Potential Actions: Develop and build a central community health center on Nipmuc land that specializes in holistic medical care, health education courses, and disaster preparedness-related medical assistance. |
| Priority 5: Design support programs for vulnerable populations. | 
| Potential Actions: Offer primarily elderly people and people with disabilities services such as housing support, health counseling and services, and community socialization programming. |
| Priority 6: Create a climate disaster preparedness plan using MVP’s Nature Based Solutions Toolkit. | 
| Potential Actions: Protect infrastructure, mitigate flood impacts, develop community trainings, and build support networks and supply kits on Nipmuc lands. |
| Priority 7: Establish culturally appropriate, relevant, and consistent social event programing. | 
| Potential Actions: Create a schedule of dinner, dances, outreach events, conferences and other events to build a greater sense of community. |
| Priority 8: Increase networking within the tribe and conduct robust partnerships within the community and external media partners. | 
| Potential Actions: Maintain a presence on social and print media and create an online community to help build connections between those living on Nipmuc land on those in the diaspora. |
| Priority 9: Support effective and inclusive leadership strategies. | 
| Potential Actions: Support leadership structure that coordinates community engagement, project management, disaster preparedness, access to services, digital outreach, and youth leadership development. |
| Priority 10: Prepare and execute strategy to engage with government entities. | 
| Potential Actions: Solicit programming support, funding streams for proposed programs, and to restore land taken from the Nipmuc people previously. |
Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band's MVP 2.0 Seed Project: Nipmuc Resilient Housing Initiative
The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band received funding to implement a Seed Project that addresses one or more of their climate resilience priorities. The Nipmuc Resilient Housing Initiative will pilot an affordable and climate adaptive housing model that incorporate Indigenous Knowledges. Specifically, this pilot will establish a prototype structure that can be used as a model for future housing solutions.
The activities of this project include:
- Identify a location for prototype structure on tribal land.
- Engage Nipmuc community members, architects, and sustainability experts to design the prototype.
- Build an energy-efficient tiny home/ADU with the aid of local labor, apprentices, and Nipmuc artisans.
- Provide housing for a Nipmuc elder, disabled individual, or family in need.
- Conduct community workshops on sustainable housing and climate resilience.
- Document lessons learned and develop a long-term housing plan, exploring additional funding for future homes.
Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band Action Grant Projects
The MVP Action Grant provides funding to communities that want to take important steps to prepare for climate change, such as dealing with extreme weather, flooding, rising sea levels, and extreme heat.
Nukkone Mayash (the Old Ways) (FY25)
This ongoing project uses traditional ecological knowledges, we plan to enable our community to cope with stressors and adapt to changing conditions while accessing, protecting, and stewarding lands central to Nipmuc identity. Build community capacity for climate resilience by applying Indigenous-centered climate adaptation strategies and approaches. Employ adaptation strategies incorporating Nipmuc values and producing co-benefits for human and environmental communities.