In the basement of St. Augustine’s Church on Wednesday, Tisbury town leaders split into groups and gathered around a series of maps. One map showed areas susceptible to severe flooding, marked with shades of purple. Another showed possible hurricane surge for storms in categories one through four, marked with shades of blue.

Another map showed how much the ocean could encroach on the town with one to 10 feet of sea level rise. Five Corners, the Tisbury Marketplace, Beach Road, the town’s primary fuel station and the Steamship Authority port were all completely within the blue-green area illustrating the potential advance of the sea.

The occasion was a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness workshop, funded with a $20,000 grant from the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental affairs. Five Island towns have received funding for the workshops, which aim to promote planning for the impacts of climate change at a local level. Chilmark, West Tisbury, and Tisbury have completed their workshops. Oak Bluffs and Edgartown are conducting workshops later this fall.

With the help of state-approved facilitators, three dozen name tag-wearing Tisbury stakeholders put their heads together on Wednesday. The Dukes County Housing Authority, Vineyard Transit Authority, and Steamship Authority were all represented. The shellfish constable sat alongside the town health agent. The museum director sat next to a selectman.

The group identified the Eastville Beach jetty as an area of vulnerability in severe storms as it is meant to protect Beach Road and the harbor from breakwater. The pump system that pumps wastewater from downtown businesses back to the wastewater treatment facility was also identified as vulnerable.

“It’s a key part of the wastewater system that gets all the wastewater from downtown to the plant,” said selectman Melinda Loberg. “If we lose power, that will not work.”

The group discussed whether a vulnerability study at the Steamship Authority should be a priority, since it would not necessarily fall within the town purview. They discussed raising Water street, investing in solar-powered energy storage and incentivizing businesses to relocate to higher ground. In an effort to think outside the box, one small group suggested Vineyard Haven take cues from Venice.

“For the roads we can’t raise, do we accept the fact that they are going to be a canal?” planning board member Dawn Bellante Holand asked the group. “Let’s see some of that creativity.”

The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program was launched last year as part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s 2016 executive order to promote climate change resilience in Massachusetts. Participating communities are required to follow their workshops with a public listening session to discuss priorities and areas of vulnerability. The communities then draft a final report for state approval to receive designation as an MVP community, which can qualify towns for more funding down the road.

At the shared workshop sessions for Chilmark and West Tisbury in May, drought, sea level rise, wildfires and flooding were all primary concerns. According to the 2015 Dukes County Hazard Mitigation Plan, more than 5,700 people in the two towns (including summer residents) live in areas prone to wildfires. There has not been a significant wildfire on the Island since 1965, leading to an accumulation of fuel over the intervening decades. Forest ecosystem change also came up as a concern at the up-Island workshop because it could result in increased circulation of Lyme disease.

Some 38 people in Chilmark and West Tisbury live in areas that would be flooded by four feet of sea level rise. The group identified Menemsha as the most vulnerable population center in the event of rising seas, hurricanes and severe northeasters. They discussed the aging population and the vulnerability of older residents in extreme weather events.

Some resilience measures the group discussed included moving vulnerable electrical wires underground, beach renourishment, clearing dead material from the forest and replacing culverts. Another measure was ensuring public buildings have backup generators and providing a public emergency water supply.

West Tisbury and Chilmark each received $15,000 for their planning process.

Edgartown will hold their MVP workshop during the last week of October according to town administrator James Hagerty. Last spring, the town received $17,000 from the state for the planning process. Oak Bluffs received $20,000 for their workshop, which will take place in two sessions on Nov. 1 and Nov. 7.

At the Tisbury workshop on Wednesday, the group of stakeholders struggled to boil down their vulnerabilities. Facilitators asked them to come up with five to six top priorities, but between the pump station, the ferry supply chain, Beach Road reconstruction and other issues, the group found itself struggling to condense to fewer than 10.

“Why are we so focused on five to six?” fire chief John Schilling asked.

“That’s what the state is asking for,” the facilitator responded.

“But the Vineyard is special,” Mr. Schilling said, and a knowing laugh went around the room. It is an Island, after all, surrounded by an eroding coastline, buffeted by increasingly frequent northeasters, cut off from resources in the event of a severe storm.

The group settled on seven priorities.

Tisbury’s public listening session will be held Nov. 8 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Tisbury Senior Center.