Five members of the State College Borough Council will travel to Washington, D.C., March 15 to meet with three U.S. lawmakers to lobby for funding for borough projects, including housing programs for low-income families and the Fraser Street realignment.

During the meeting with U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum and U.S. Rep. John Peterson, Borough Council members and Borough Manager Tom Fountaine will ask the Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania to support four State College Borough projects in the 2007 federal budget.

The meeting is part of the annual conference of the National League of Cities, an organization that represents municipal governments throughout the country.

One of the priorities of Borough Council includes reapplication for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and HOME Investment Partnerships program funds, which are two different grant programs from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Planning Director Carl Hess said.

Lu Hoover, planner for the borough, said State College received $735,478 in CDBG funds and $508,202 in HOME funds this year. However, both amounts are down from last year's awards -- $819,900 in CDBG funds and $540,205 in HOME funds.

Hoover said allocations are determined by two factors: the census and a formula used by HUD. Because of some recent population changes, State College fund amounts have been on the decline since 1992, when the borough received its largest award of $1 million.

Hoover said there have been rumors that HUD may change the formula and decide to direct more CDBG funds to communities that cannot meet their own housing needs. However, it is unclear what exactly the change will entail. "Changes in the CDBG funding formula could result in significant cuts for State College," she said.

CDBG funds are used for public services such as operating costs for the homeless shelter, Big Brother and Big Sister programs, infrastructure improvements in low-income neighborhoods and home ownership rental programs. HOME funds are used for housing programs, Hoover said.

Hess said the borough typically works with the nonprofit group Housing Transitions, which runs the local homeless shelter, State College's Centre House, when using HOME funds.

The borough is also hoping to receive funds to realign Fraser Street. The project, which includes connecting the two sections separated by Beaver Avenue, is estimated to cost $3.2 million, Hess said.

Borough representatives will also discuss interoperability, which involves first-response agencies -- including the police and fire departments -- being able to communicate with each other and with other groups like the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Borough Council member Cathy Dauler said.

"There needs to be a place within the broadband communications system for local emergency groups," Dauler said.

The fourth priority of the council concerns the Cable Communications Act and the borough's ability to receive a percentage of cable operators' profits.

Dauler said the borough receives revenue for giving rights of way, which are rights of the operators to install cable lines in the borough. "Telecommunications people are always lobbying for less restrictions on how they do business, so that could possibly have a negative effect on us," she added.

Fountaine said it was important for the council to prioritize its goals because time with the lawmakers would be limited to about 30 minutes.