By Jennifer Calloway
December 20, 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created and observed National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week in order to recognize the importance of educating parents, children, government agencies and property owners about the dangers of lead exposure. This year during October 22-28, communities across the nation set aside time to focus on lead-paint hazards in housing along with best practices and result-driven programs that attack the problem head-on. According to the EPA, over the past 30 years, lead exposure among young children has been drastically reduced.

Community-based programs and public-private partnerships, such as Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP), have contributed to the steady decline in lead-poisoning by engaging citizens at various levels and in different capacities such as teachers in schools and political figures in municipalities large and small and funding that engagement. In five years, CUSP has granted close to $4 million dollars in grant monies to Conference of Mayors members, and it is working.

Providing a safer and healthier environment for children continues to be a mayoral priority. The public-private partnership model is one formula that consistently produces worthwhile results in real time. By engaging the community groups and the business community together in a spirit of trust and cooperation, cities are making a difference. For example, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino have leveraged existing resources by revising their housing codes or holding bad landlords accountable while at the same time working with the financial community for low interest housing re-habilitation loans and receiving donated or low-cost home repair products from the housing industry.

In addition, both cities have received substantial grant funding from CUSP and the federal government because of their excellent strategic plans and record of accomplishment. By setting a strategic plan that targets the most blighted neighborhoods in their communities and thereby reaching those with the most need, both cities are moving rapidly towards the goal of ending childhood lead poisoning by 2010.

Childhood lead poisoning is both preventable and solvable. In fact, the federal government has aimed to eliminate it in the U.S. as a public health problem by the year 2010. With four years to go, cities must continue to seek pro-active strategies with clear goals and that push forward at every given opportunity. And, though some think that the solutions are cost prohibitive in many cases (per HUD guidelines), two coats of new paint are sufficient to end the hazard.

In Racine (WI), focus is on high-risk housing identified through geographic mapping of the most vulnerable neighborhoods with its youngest residents ages 1-5 years old. Racine will offer testing, expert consultations and risk-assessments in addition to collaborating with existing housing rehabilitation and lead hazard reduction initiatives. Columbus (OH) has created a leaded window replacement program that will mitigate the risk of old windows, which can contain hazardous dust that often finds its way into children’s mouths and lungs. Baltimore is strengthening its pre-natal education initiative, The Stork’s Nest, by targeting 500 pregnant women who are first-time mothers and live in at-risk neighborhoods.

Other cities, such as San Francisco and Cleveland, have partnered with The Sherwin-Williams Company to reduce costs of remediation in older housing units while providing key workforce development training. This program is called “HomeWork” and has two main components: (1) offering minorities and low-income housing residents the chance to learn the skills necessary for a career in professional painting; and (2) providing paint (and other painting supplies) at a substantially reduced cost to city’s lead-safe rehabilitation projects. Sherwin-Williams provides the trainer, materials and works along with local contractors and unions to assist trainees in finding meaningful employment as a professional painter. As part of the course, the trainees are provided with HUD approved lead-safe Work Practices and Healthy Homes instruction. HomeWork is designed to encourage the expansion of lead-safe property maintenance efforts.

Ultimately, the one thing all these cities have in common is their commitment to direct action by employing cooperation across city agencies and emphasizing teamwork with the business community to achieve tangible results.