WARREN — The city will know by year’s end if it will receive a federal Weed and Seed grant targeted in an area where about 45 percent of the residents live. If the city receives the grant, the areas targeted for beefed up patrol and resident watch groups would include portions of the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th wards. Based on the 2000 Census, the area would cover 18,000 residents — nearly half of the city’s 45,000 population. City officials, neighborhood watch leaders, social service agency representatives and law enforcement members learned about the program during a public meeting Tuesday in council chambers. Speakers included two Youngstown residents who said they already have seen a difference in their neighborhoods less than two years after the grant cycle began there. Tierney Woodruff said prostitutes would roam the street in front of an elementary school her daughter attended and now they are not there.