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EPA Lead Program Grant Fact Sheet
EPA's Targeted Lead Grants
EPA's Targeted Lead Grant Program funds projects in areas with high incidences of children with elevated blood-lead levels in vulnerable populations. In 2007 the Agency awarded more than $5.2 million in grants under this ambitious program. These targeted grants are intended to address immediate needs of the communities in which they are awarded, and will also highlight lead poison prevention strategies that can be used in similar communities across the country.
EPA's lead program is playing a major role in meeting the federal goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning as a major public health concern by 2010, and the projects supported by these grant funds are an important part of this ongoing effort. According to the Centers for Disease Control in 1978 there were 13.5 million children in the US with elevated blood lead levels. By 2002, that number had dropped to 310,000.
San Joaquin County, California - Lead Poisoning Risks in Children of African-American and Immigrant Parents
EPA has selected the San Joaquin County Health Care Services Agency in Stockton, California,for a Targeted Lead Grant.
Using a Geographic Information System (GIS) tool, the San Joaquin County Health Care Services Agency will map the residential addresses of children in the five largest immigrant populations in San Joaquin County (Mexican; Filipino; Cambodian-Khmer; Vietnamese; and Hmong-Lao), and among the County's African-American population. Thees data will be cross-referenced with the location of pre-1950 housing, in order better to identify specific areas in the county at high risk for childhood lead poisoning cases. This GIS-based effort will enable county health and nursing staff to better focus outreach and mitigation efforts to reduce the potential for children's exposure to lead poisoning.
EPA's grant funds are designed to achieve these milestone objectives:
- Better identify at-risk populations in the county to focus lead poisoning prevention efforts,
- Ensure that the county's lead poisoning prevention efforts are data-driven,
- Identify geographically concise high-risk areas where health staff can focus outreach and mitigation efforts instead of focusing on less-effective outreach efforts covering a larger geographic area.
For more information about EPA's Lead Program, visit www.epa.gov/lead or call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD.