The City of Orange annually receives grant funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development from the Community Development Block Grant program. These funds can only be spent in low-to-moderate income areas as determined by the latest Census. Up to 20% of the annual funds may be used for administrative expenses and up to 15% of the funds may be used for social services that benefit lot-to-moderate income residents of Orange.
The social service funds are distributed to area social organizations through an application procedure. The applications are reviewed by a Citizens Advisory Committee and the committee makes recommendations to the City Council about the level of funding each organization is provided. If an organization is awarded funds, the organization must submit reports of their activity along with funding requests to the Grants Administrator.
CDBG funds can be used for physical improvements to low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. Some of the projects funded by CDBG funds are: