Northeast District Department of Health

With funding from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, NCHH awarded 15 $5,000 Lead Poisoning Awareness Community Mini-Grants in 2017. These grants were for community events focused on raising awareness, engaging community leaders in advocacy, or motivating policy change around lead poisoning prevention.

As a mini-grantee, NDDH hosted a Lead Poisoning Prevention Forum as a networking and strategy planning session for a number of community lead poisoning prevention partners. NDDH also organized and hosted an EPA Renovate, Repair, and Paint Initial Training for nine individuals and participated in two highly successful community events to raise public awareness and promoted efforts through traditional and social media outlets.

Impacts of the funded activities included:
• 300 event attendees between all four events.
• Approximately 2500 people reached via mail, social media, radio, and other communications efforts.
• The networking and strategy event was attended by 32 community lead poisoning prevention partners, including public health professionals, town leaders, building officials, physicians, realtors, zoning officials, housing specialists, economic and community development coordinators, and OSHA officials.
• Meetings and/or teleconferences with three HUD Officials (two administrators, one inspector) produced promising results for future collaboration.
• Follow-up action in place on lead paint in a HUD home as a result of attendance at forum by Section 8 HUD Administrator.

A number of forum participants signed pledge/action step cards for actions they can take to reduce lead poisoning. NDDH is following up with these partners to measure success and identify opportunities to improve community efforts.