Orange County Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP)

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) has been providing technical assistance and evaluation support to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP) since the inception of the initiative in 2007. Each of the 15 grantee programs operates within a unique local landscape that impacts the distinct challenges they face and successes they accomplish.
As a CLPPP Program grantee, the Orange County CLPPPP program seeks to achieve five goals:
1. Identify housing at greatest risk of lead-based paint hazards.
2. Develop partnerships and community engagement to promote primary prevention.
3. Promote interventions to create lead-safe housing units.
4. Build lead-safe work practices (LSWP) workforce capacity.
5. Identify community resources for lead-hazard control.

Since 2007, Orange County CLPPPP has worked with property owners to remove lead paint hazards from housing in the target areas of census tracts 3, 4, and 5 in the city of Newburgh and census tracts 11, 12, 15, and 151 in the city of Middletown. The program targets the highest-risk properties, including but not limited to (1) homes of at-risk newborns or pregnant women, (2) units where children with blood lead levels between 5–9 or 10–14 μg/dL reside or units adjacent to them, (3) units with a history of elevated blood lead cases or other units in the same building, or (4) rental units occupied by DSS- funded or Section 8-funded recipients. The program also inspects properties because of referrals from Healthy Neighborhoods Program, Maternal and Child Health Home Visiting programs, other partner agencies, day cares, and schools; requests from owners or tenants; observations of deteriorated exterior paint; and identification through door-to-door canvassing.

The risk assessment protocol consists of exterior and interior visual inspection and an XRF (x-ray fluorescence) measurement of the concentration of lead on painted surfaces in 100% of all inspections. The program also provides educational materials and incentives to encourage residents’ participation. During inspections, residents are interviewed by community health workers to educate them regarding any found hazards, promote childhood blood lead level testing, and obtain relevant information to the property inspection. To obtain these inspections, the program partners with many agencies and other departments, knocks from door to door, and presents at schools, health fairs, bus stops, laundromats, and many other community events. Following property owner completion of lead-safe renovations, funds are used to help them complete required dust wipe clearance tests, protecting both the occupants and the property owners. When the unit passes the dust clearance test, the case is closed. Owners are advised that ongoing maintenance of the painted surfaces is required. The program provides residents and landlords with educational materials and incentives to encourage participation and cooperation. Failure to comply with a Notice and Demand issued to a property owner regarding identified lead-based paint hazards results in the following enforcement procedure: A pre-hearing conference is held at the
Department of Health, at which time a stipulated agreement is reached regarding time frame and method of correction; failure to show for the prehearing conference, or failure to comply with the stipulated agreement reached, results in a formal hearing at the Department of Health, at which time penalty fees are assessed. In the city of Newburgh, failure to comply with a Notice and Demand results first in the referral of the property owner to code enforcement and then through the enforcement procedure described above.

Lead paint dust created during renovation work can substantially increase children’s exposure to lead. The program works to address this problem by training landlords, homeowners, and contractors in lead-safe work practices. These trainings focus on reducing the amount of dust generated during paint-disturbing work, containing any dust generated, and thoroughly cleaning the jobsite after work to remove any lead-contaminated dust. The program teaches the EPA Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) certification class. A “Don’t Spread the Lead” National Center for Healthy Housing curriculum class for do-it-yourselfers working on their own residences is also taught. The program has implemented a nutrition/lead safety class at local supermarkets. All students receive incentives for coming to these classes to aid them in keeping their families lead-safe.