Langston University will receive an $800,000 federal grant that school officials say will be used for economic development in Langston and Oklahoma City.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Historically Black Colleges and Universities grant to the university's HUD/HBCU Economic Development and Outreach Department.

Program director Linda Tillman says the grant will help fund projects including the construction of a softball field at a Langston park and the expansion of the Business Resource and Incubator Center in the Langston Retail Plaza.

Grant money also will be used to fund housing and foreclosure seminars in Oklahoma City along with job placement and counseling programs. The university also will use grant money to work with faith-based and grass-roots organizations to promote neighborhood associations in the university's "Empowerment Zone" in Oklahoma City.