COUNTY OF LEHIGH

Office of Public Information

Government Center

17 South Seventh Street

Allentown, Pennsylvania 18101-2401

Phone: 610-782-3001

Fax: 610-820-3615

Donald T. Cunningham, Jr., County Executive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:

Date: April 24, 2007 Frank Kane

(610) 782-3001

Lehigh County Awards Grant to City of Allentown

City to receive funds to develop comprehensive municipal plan

ALLENTOWN: Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski today announced the continuation of grants awarded under Lehigh County’s newly-created Main Street Initiatives and Regional Partnerships Funds.

“We created these two new grant funds to help Lehigh County municipalities pay for needed improvements and to cover the upfront costs associated with savings that can be realized through regional cooperation,” said Cunningham. “There is no better use of Lehigh County tax dollars than to give them back to our municipalities to pay for needed improvements.”

The City of Allentown received a $37,500 grant from Lehigh County’s Main Street Initiatives Fund. The funds will be used to prepare an urban core strategic plan to establish initiatives to help promote the revitalization of center city.

“We really appreciate this assistance from Lehigh County and Executive Don Cunningham,” Pawlowski said. “This grant will be used to develop a comprehensive plan to address housing issues in our city, which is a critical issue for us. The city is working with John Kromer, an acknowledged and experienced expert in the field, and with the county’s assistance I know we can make a significant change that will improve our neighborhoods and strengthen our city.”

The Regional Partnerships and Main Street Initiatives Funds were proposed by Cunningham last year and adopted by the Board of Commissioners to supplement municipalities’ community and economic development activities. In the next few weeks, Lehigh County will announce $106,500 in community and economic development grants to municipalities.

The deadline for municipal applications for the next round of funding is May 31, and information for all of Lehigh County’s grants can be found on Lehigh County’s website at www.lehighcounty.org .

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