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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.
Des Moines, Iowa - Outreach to "At Risk" Latino Population in Polk County
EPA has selected the Polk County Health Department in Des Moines, Iowa, for a Targeted Lead Grant.
Latinos are only 5.8% of the total population of Polk County, but they comprised 46% of the most recent cases of elevated blood lead levels managed by the Polk County Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. This grant will allow Polk County Health Department to reach an at-risk population currently "outside the system" due to language, culture, and trust barriers.
The overall goal of the $85,233 grant project, "Three Strikes against Lead," is to increase blood lead testing in children under six in Polk County and offer a three-point lead risk audit that includes:
- Blood lead testing
- In home lead hazard education
- A lead risk audit (addressing interior, exterior and cultural practices for lead risks).
Existing Latino community networks and community leader "ambassadors" will be used while leveraging costs with other community and Lead Coalition partners. The grant will support a bi-lingual outreach worker, train ambassadors and recruit residents to perform lead risk audits and provide education and outreach to residents, provide case management services as needed, and follow-up with formal lead-based paint inspections in homes with suspected lead hazards. Homes with lead hazards will be referred to housing programs for lead remediation.
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.