By Ellen H. King
April 12, 2004

On Friday, April 2, The United States Conference of Mayors and DuPont proudly announced $90,000 in awards to the winners of the USCM-DuPont Spotlight on Excellence Awards Competition #2. The USCM-DuPont Spotlight on Excellence Awards will award $500,000 throughout 2004, and were created to highlight outstanding strategies to make cities lead-safe.

Detroit received a $35,000 award, Macon (GA) a $25,000 award and East St. Louis (IL) and Salt Lake City $15,000 awards. For the second competition in a series of six, cities were asked to submit proposals outlining approaches to educate residents on the importance of lead-safety.

"As with Competition #1 of the Spotlight awards, we continue to be encouraged by the innovative lead-safety initiatives cities are creating to institute in their communities," noted Conference of Mayors Executive Director Tom Cochran. "We are honored to provide a tool for cities to help them make a safer and more productive environment for their residents and look forward to the opportunity to assist cities even further in the competitions to come."

"By inviting cities to share their creative approaches to educating residents on the importance of lead-safety, CUSP has accumulated a wide array of strategic lead-safety approaches," said DuPont Public Affairs Manager Mary Kate Campbell. "DuPont looks forward to continuing to serve as a resource to cities by providing a sounding board of winners through CUSP and launching future grant programs."

The third grant competition of the USCM-DuPont Spotlight on Excellence Awards will be announced at the Conference of Mayors upcoming Annual Meeting in Boston this June 2004. Information on the grant programs can be found on the USCM/DuPont Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP) official Web site at www.cusponline.org or at usmayors.org.

$35,000 First Place Award: Detroit

Detroit will use grant funds to support initiatives to prevent lead poisoning, particularly in the significant Detroit Hispanic population. More specifically, the City will institute a pottery exchange program to provide parents with lead-free cookware, reach out to preschools and Head Start programs to provide lead education using age appropriate materials that will assist Spanish'speaking children in learning English, recruitment of health workers in Hispanic communities, further develop a Mobile Lead Museum and finally, institute a door-to-door canvassing campaign.

$25,000 Second Place Award: Macon (GA)

Through reaching out to community public and private partners, Macon proposes to conduct direct, culturally'sensitive outreach to 700 targeted Head Start children and will work with Bibb County public school nurses and the Teen Parent Center to inform parents of the dangers of lead poisoning. Project partners will convene an interagency task force to track both child and property screening and lead exposure outcomes.

$30,000 Third Place Award (Tie):

East St. Louis (IL) - $15,000

East St. Louis will implement grant funds to create an educational curriculum of lead poisoning prevention for pregnant women. Curriculum will include basic knowledge of where lead can be found in their environment, how they can protect themselves and their unborn children and the effects of lead poisoning on their health and the health of their children. Additionally, a second curriculum will be developed to train local health professionals to introduce the information to pregnant women.

Salt Lake City - $15,000

Salt Lake City will increase awareness of lead poisoning among landlords to make their properties safe. Activities will include developing and printing a brochure educating landlords on lead poisoning, conducting a mass mailing campaign of the brochure to a minimum of 7,000 property owners, running newspaper ads and distributing brochures in venues frequented by landlords. Additionally, Salt Lake City will increase the knowledge of lead poisoning and lead-based paint hazards among the Hispanic community through outreach to churches and organizations that serve minority populations.