YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The state has awarded the city of Youngstown with a grant that will be used to buy a new database system for code enforcement and to help track demolition processes.

The project, titled the Collaborative Code enforcement Enforcement System, is a partnership between the city, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and the YSU center for Urban research and Studies, and is focused on community improvement through code enforcement inspections and demolition activity. 

The $94,803 grant from the state will allow the city to purchase a program named Empyra, which is designed to better collect and integrate data and monitor demolition activity in the city on the web, according to a release.

The grant will also allow the collaborators to produce a feasibility study to help find new ways to develop and monitor the demolition processes in the city.