Kokomo — The area around the former Kingston Products plant will receive attention this year from the city of Kokomo’s annual pot of Community Development Block Grant funding, city officials announced Wednesday.

The northside plant, vacant since the late 1980s, is scheduled for demolition this year, as Michigan City developers Mecca Companies looks to build a low- to moderate-income housing development on the former plant site.

The neighborhood around the plant will receive the bulk of $285,000 the city will set aside from this year’s federal block grant allocation, city director of development Debra Cook said Wednesday.

As they have in previous years, city officials will spend about two-thirds of the total block grant allocation on two programs: owner-occupied property rehabilitation and neighborhood infrastructure improvements.

Each year, the city receives about $1 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which must be spent on projects to serve low- to moderate-income Kokomo residents.

An appointed board vets proposed projects each February, and the mayor’s office makes the final decision in March, subject to federal review.

This year, city officials said they’re focusing on “infrastructure and rehabilitation projects that generate jobs,” along with “education and youth-related projects that increase literacy and developmental growth, enhance education opportunities and prepare low-income city residents for jobs.”

“Projects that employ the local work force are important to our economy. And as I have said before, improving our education levels will continue to be a goal every year of my administration,” Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight said Wednesday.

Goodnight will submit the proposed projects to the federal government sometime before May 16. Funds will be available on or after July 1, pending HUD approval.

Each year, the city is also required to establish a “target area” where CDBG dollars will be targeted.

This year’s neighborhood is the same as last year: bounded by Morgan Street on the north, Apperson Way on the east, North Street on the south, and Phillips Street on the west.

Some of the funding has also gone to community organizations that serve low- to moderate-income individuals, including the Carver Community Center, the Kokomo Family YMCA and the Family Service Association Domestic Violence Shelter.

The city chose one new recipient for funding this year, New Leaf Mentoring, which helps kids whose parents are incarcerated.

Selected projects and proposed funding levels include the following:

• Neighborhood Property Renewal program, including owner-occupied home repairs and emergency home repairs — $492,930

• Neighborhood infrastructure improvements near former Kingston plant — $285,000

• Low-income support services including:

— Scholarships for Indiana University Kokomo and Ivy Tech students $10,000

— Howard County Extension Homemakers Head Start program $1,000

— YMCA low-income youth and family membership assistance $4,000

— Carver Center youth membership assistance $2,000

— Bridges Outreach summer youth mentoring program $2,600

— New Leaf Mentoring for youth with incarcerated parents $5,000

— Family Service Association Healthy Families program $2,000

• Public facilities and improvements including:

— Family Service Association Domestic Violence Shelter porch $9,865

— Family Service Association furnaces replacement $25,000

— Bona Vista handicap-accessible playground equipment $17,150

— ADA-compliant rehabilitation to Northwest Park restrooms $11,289

• Program administration $216,958 (this also funds two positions within the city’s Department of Development).

• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at 765-454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@ kokomotribune.com