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New York State Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (NYS CLPPP+)


Project Funder: New York State Department of Health

Project Partners: Health departments for Albany, Broome, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Dutchess, Erie, Jefferson, Montgomery, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Rensselaer, Rockland, Schenectady, Ulster, and Westchester counties, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Project Contact: Laura Fudala, lfudala@nchh.org

Project Description: In 2007, New York State began an innovative $3 million pilot initiative to curtail childhood lead poisoning dramatically in the state. The Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Initiative authorized health departments to gain access to high-risk homes for the purposes of education and inspection. Previously, health departments were only able to gain entry to a home if a child already diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level was known to reside there. This significant policy shift opened the door for health departments to take a more proactive and effective approach. Based on the promising results of the pilot, the Primary Prevention Initiative was declared a permanent program in 2009.

Now funded at $8.7 million annually and recently renamed the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program+ (CLPPP+), New York State’s program supports enhanced primary prevention efforts at the 20 local health departments whose counties account for approximately 90% of children under the age of six with newly identified BLLs of 5 µg/dL and above. NCHH provides ongoing technical assistance and evaluation support to the NYSDOH and the CLPPP+ grantees.

For a sampling of the ways NCHH has supported and continues to support local primary prevention efforts in New York State, see our fact sheet, Tailored, Flexible, Responsive: Technical Assistance (TA) NCHH’s Way.

Technical Assistance Toolbox

Creating Effective and Efficient Primary Prevention Programs

NCHH has developed a series of technical assistance briefs to support local health and housing agencies in understanding and identifying opportunities to create more effective and efficient lead poisoning primary prevention programs. This suite of briefs will equip local programs to enhance their current program evaluation efforts and engage in continuous quality improvement.

Each technical assistance brief includes background information and a step-by-step process for utilization. These guides include methods to (1) estimate the costs of early intervention program (EIP) services attributed to lead exposure, (2) project the burden of lead exposure in communities with low screening rates, (3) determine the effectiveness of targeting high-risk geographic areas in reducing blood lead levels, and (4) assess overall program impact on lead paint hazards. NCHH will develop additional tools as new opportunities emerge.

Together, the technical assistance briefs described below provide a wealth of practical information about opportunities to increase program precision, effectiveness, and efficiency; accelerate primary prevention efforts nationwide; and, ultimately, reduce the number of children exposed to lead hazards.

Estimating the Costs of Early Intervention Program Services Attributed to Lead Exposure
This technical assistance brief provides state and local childhood lead poisoning prevention programs with a method to estimate the financial cost of early intervention program (EIP) services attributable to lead exposure in their jurisdiction. This type of information can be useful to programs wishing to make their case about the importance of lead poisoning prevention and the cost burden of lead exposure. [pdf; NCHH, 2020]

Projecting the Burden of Childhood Lead Poisoning in Communities with Low Screening Rates
Even in states with laws requiring screening of all children for lead exposure, lead screening rates often vary widely. Given this variation, programs often wish to project prevalence rates and numbers of children with lead poisoning more accurately. This document outlines the steps that programs can take to improve estimates of the prevalence or number of children with elevated blood lead levels. [pdf; NCHH, 2020]

Determining the Effectiveness of Lead Hazard Control Interventions that Target High-Risk Blocks to Reduce Childhood Blood Lead Levels
This technical assistance brief provides state and local childhood lead poisoning prevention programs that systemically target entire street blocks, or groups of street blocks, within their high-risk area(s), for lead hazard control interventions with a means to evaluate the impact of their interventions. Understanding the impact of this approach can be useful to programs in determining whether adjustments in the targeting strategy are needed and in defending the choice to target contiguous blocks in a high-risk area versus taking a more scattershot approach. [pdf; NCHH, 2020]

Assessing Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Treatment Post-Remediation 
This technical assistance brief provides state and local childhood lead poisoning prevention programs with a method of assessing the lead safety of housing units at least one year after lead hazard control treatment. Options for more vigorous evaluations, which include pre-remediation data for comparison, are also provided to examine the overall impact of treatment from pre-remediation to at least one year post-remediation. [pdf; NCHH, 2020]

Assessing Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Treatment Post-Remediation
Word and Excel Supplements:

Additional Resources

Annual NYS Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program Implementation Summary Reports

Other Resources

 

Last page update: December 10, 2021.