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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.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Outreach to Hispanic Populations
EPA has selected the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a Targeted Lead Grant.
The Health Center plans to use the grant money to identify and educate medically underserved families, largely consisting of low-income Hispanic immigrants, and provide blood lead screening and lead education.
A large number of Milwaukee residents are low-income, Hispanic immigrants living in older housing that lack access to important information about lead based paint and the risks of lead poisoning. This project targets the community in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
EPA's grant funds are earmarked to provide a lead prevention program that will:
- Partner with local and community agencies to provide training for their employees so that they are comfortable in discussing childhood lead poisoning with the clients they serve;
- Develop a GPS program to create efficient canvassing routes throughout Milwaukee's residential neighborhoods and then canvas the neighborhoods;
- Analyze lead outreach program data to identify high risk housing units that have been tied to multiple cases of childhood lead poisoning enabling the Health Center to provide education and referral services to families before a lead poisoning occurs.
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.