Mayor Curtatone and Meridith Levy stand proud with their CPA awards together with Rep. Carl Sciortino, Rep.Denise Provost, Senator Pat Jehlen and Emily Monea, the City’s Community Preservation Act Manager.

On Tuesday, January 14, Mayor Joe Curtatone and SCC Deputy Director Meridith Levy became recipients of the 2014 Kuehn Community Preservation Award, presented by the Community Preservation Coalition at the Massachusetts State House.

The two Somerville leaders were recognized for their significant contributions to the success of the Community Preservation Act (CPA), which passed with 76% of the vote in Somerville in 2012. The Mayor and Ms.Levy were accompanied on stage at the ceremony by Senator Pat Jehlen, Representative Denise Provost and Representative Carl Sciortino, all of whom have been active supporters of the CPA.

The Community Preservation Act is an innovative state law that allows an adopting community to establish a dedicated local fund to support affordable housing, create new parks, playgrounds, and recreational fields, protect open space, and preserve historic buildings and resources.

A total of 155 cities and town (44% of the Commonwealth’s communities) have adopted CPA since the Act was signed into law in 2000. Over $1.2 billion have been raised to date, supporting more than 6,600 community preservation projects. In Somerville, CPA funds will provide approximately $1.5 million dollars annually for affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space projects.

To learn more about the CPA in Somerville: http://www.somervillema.gov/cpa. To learn more about The Community Preservation Coalition: http://communitypreservation.org/content/steering-committee.