CITY OF NEWBURGH – Clearing gutters.

Reinvigorating front porches with fresh coats of paint.

Power washing windows.

Those are some of the projects a corps of volunteers will undertake in a section of the City of Newburgh’s East End for “Spruce Up,” a State of New York Mortgage Agency beautification initiative taking place in the city for the first time on June 9.

PathStone Community Development is organizing the event with SONYMA. The organization’s offices are on Chambers Street, one of four streets at the center of the project area and part of a swath of the East End where vacant buildings are being reborn as affordable single-family homes and apartments.

“We’re not there to paint their whole house or put on a new deck or anything like that,” said Eileen Clifford, director of PathStone’s housing program. “But just painting porches, cleaning up garbage debris, trimming shrubs, putting out new mulch, putting in some flowers. Just making it look nice.”

The first “Spruce Up” project was undertaken last fall in Albany. This year, in addition to Newburgh, SONYMA is sponsoring events in Buffalo, Troy and Long Island.

In Newburgh, volunteers will concentrate on properties in the corridors of Chambers, DuBois, Johnston and Lander streets, starting work at 9 a.m. and finishing at 5 p.m.

In addition to SONYMA’s sponsorship, the initiative has received funding from M&T Bank. Other groups are donating a truck of mulch for gardening projects and food for volunteers, Clifford said.

So far, 15 property owners have requested projects, including gutter clearing and window power washing, Clifford said. The goal is 20 projects, she said.

“There’s a lot of folks in Newburgh that want to do good things,” Clifford said. “They just don’t have the wherewithal.”

Last month Kingston-based developer RUPCO formally launched a project in Newburgh in which it will turn 15 vacant properties into 45 affordable apartments in a partnership with the Newburgh Community Land Bank.

Also at work in the area, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh is partnering with the Land Bank on projects, including recently completed renovations on Chambers and South Miller streets.

lsparks@th-record.com