GREENSBORO &8212; With a letter of recommendation from Congressman Artur Davis&8217;s office, the City of Greensboro was awarded $400,000 in federal grants and the Hero Housing Resource Center was awarded $300,000.

The funds for the city are part of a Community Development Block Grant through Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for use to improve the drainage system, sewage system and streets.

According to Davis, the funds will help make Greensboro &8220;a more livable community for the people who walk these streets and ride these streets everyday, just like the people of Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state have.&8221;

Mayor Vanessa Hill said the community has already responded well to the idea of improving the community&8217;s infrastructure and appearance by participating in a clean up over the weekend.

Hill said she envisions the upgrades as a way to bring in new industry and attract people to the area.

The other grant fund presented by Davis Monday was $300,000

from the Housing and Urban Development for the Hero Housing Resource Center.

The center is responsible for providing housing for 715 families to date and is projected to assist 350 families this year.

The funds help create projects like Caldwell Creek, a mixed income green community being built just outside the Greensboro city limits.

According to Pam Dorr, Hero housing director, the first phase of the development includes 32 single family three and four bedrooms homes, whose cost of construction is comparable to the price of a used trailer.

The development will also include a community center that will have computers and Internet access for the residents, as well as other amenities such as lawn equipment that can be checked out to maintain their lawns.

Dorr said this most recent round of funding will likely go to revitalizing single homes in a community that have been blighted or abandoned.

The main component of the Hero project, Dorr said, is to elevate substandard housing in rural communities and allow people affordable access to home ownership.

Davis, who has helped secure at least $1 million in funds since Hero was created in 2003, agreed: