EAST PROVIDENCE — Electrical upgrades to the city’s busiest fire station and renovating a part of the high school so it can become a hurricane shelter are two of several projects city officials agreed to finance with money it received from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

East Providence is distributing nearly $800,000 for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, with its annual Community Development Block Grant program. The City Council unanimously approved the city Planning Department’s list of recipients Tuesday night without any debate.

“What’s new is we are supporting more city building projects, such as the fire station repairs,” economic development coordinator David Bachrach said yesterday. “We have some wonderful job creation programs we are aiding also.”

About 80 percent of the 31 proposals submitted in February and March were approved at or beneath the amount requested. In previous years, Bachrach said they are ranked based on a set of criteria, such as if the need benefits East Providence more than other communities, and how large of an impact a project would have, and how the proposed group documented the need for its proposal.

The city manager makes changes before the department announces its initial decision, which is followed by a public comment period. The council has the final say.

The city plans to finance 25 initiatives to varying degrees. Bachrach said some city departments and organizations are given grants over a period of years because the project is ongoing or expensive.

For example, the East Bay Community Action Program, which shares its headquarters with the city’s recreation center on Bullocks Point Avenue, is receiving money for improvements to the building. It received $21,000 during the last round of grants for repairs and its foster grandparent program, which pairs senior citizens with local special needs children.

It is getting another $30,000 (it asked for $60,000) for building improvements as well as another $6,000 for its grandparent program with the grants approved this week. The agency is also receiving $35,250 for the second year in a row to give dental and medical care to children, seniors and low-income residents.

A new initiative being financed will help students with disabilities find employment. In the school-based jobs programs, a $15,000 grant will be given to a nonprofit organization — which has not been determined yet — that will hire the student part-time after he or she is trained. The money will offset the salary for the student, Bachrach explained.

Other programs being financed include:

•$25,000 to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to procure and install new play equipment at the Mauran Avenue Playground and another $15,000 to the department for tree mitigation.

•$4,000 to Big Brothers of Rhode Island for its mentorship program.

•$4,000 to the Riverside Family Center for after school activities dedicated to the arts.

•$7,000 to the Family Services of Rhode Island for its domestic violence response team that helps families on the scene with social services.

•$45,000 to the local Boys & Girls Club to provide children with afterschool activities and homework tutoring.

•$7,000 to Literacy Volunteers of East Bay to help adults without a high school diploma and those with English as a Second Language with literacy instruction.

apina@projo.com