Lancaster is one of the areas that will benefit from nearly $3 million in grants awarded by Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. for community improvement and revitalization projects.

PP&L announced Thursday (7/25) that 13 Lancaster-area projects will receive grants totaling $598,450 through the company's Community Partnership Program for 1996. (Projects are listed at the end of this news release.)

Across the 29 counties it serves, PP&L is awarding grants to 75 nonprofit agencies and organizations. Funding for the program comes from company earnings. PP&L does not collect any of the cost from its electricity customers.

PP&L created the Community Partnership Program to help local efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods, promote home ownership, assist small businesses and improve the quality of life in central eastern Pennsylvania.

"We are making an investment in the communities we serve. It's an investment with a real payback for PP&L and the people of the area," said Gladys Torres, PP&L's regional customer relations representative.

The payback, she added, comes in several ways. Small businesses, particularly in the downtown area of cities, can get the backing they need to take root, grow and create jobs. Low-income families have more opportunities for home ownership, which gives them a greater stake in the community. Blighted urban neighborhoods have access to funds for improving their appearance, safety and stability, to attract new residents and new investments.

In establishing the Community Partnership Program last year, PP&L used input from community leaders and social service organizations to identify the region's most pressing needs.

"We believe this effort is important enough to the future of the region that we have contributed more than $5.4 million over the past two years," Torres said. "And, funding will continue through at least 1997."

Projects receiving 1996 Community Partnership Program grants in the Lancaster area are as follows:

• ASSETS — $15,000
  To fund business skills training for people with low or moderate incomes who want to start their own business.
• BASE, Inc. — $25,000
  To provide loans, technical assistance and mentoring services for new small businesses owned by minorities and women in the Lancaster Enterprise Zone.
• Boys and Girls Club of Lancaster — $84,000
  To help homeowners revitalize their neighborhood through home repair, cleanup and other services.
• Community First Fund — $20,000
  To provide working capital and technical assistance to small businesses.
• City of Lancaster — $125,000
  To offer loans and mentoring services to small businesses in the city that are not eligible for support through other programs.
• Crispus Attucks — $29,150
  To rehabilitate blighted homes for resale to first-time home buyers.
• Downtown Investment District — $9,000
  To repair wreaths hung in the Lancaster business district during the Christmas season.
• Habitat for Humanity — $25,000
  To build a townhouse for sale to a low-income family.
• Lancaster Campaign — $30,000
  To develop a neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing program for the city of Lancaster.
• Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership — $95,000
  To help first-time home buyers with home sale closing costs and to provide education for potential home buyers.
• Spanish American Civic Association — $85,000
  To improve the infrastructure of southeast Lancaster, including pocket parks and streetscapes.
• Sunnyside Housing — $35,000
  To assist homeowners in jeopardy of losing their home because of condemnation or disrepair. To rehabilitate blighted homes for sale to low- and moderate-income families.
• Tabor Community Services — $21,300
  To support counseling for first-time home buyers.