Four Detroit-area organizations have received grants for projects to eliminate child lead exposure.

They awards were announced by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), on behalf of Michigan’s Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission (CLEEC). In total, 11 local health departments, non-profit organizations, universities and other entities in Michigan received the one-time grants of up to $75,000. All grants totaled $757,513.

The need is great in Detroit as this map taken from the report A Roadmap to Eliminating Child Lead Exposure issued by the Child Lead Poisoning Elimination Board in November 2016,  shows.

Grants were awarded through a Request for Proposal process.

Projects include:

• Lead prevention services for pregnant women and families
• Infant and toddler home screening
• Mobile lead testing
• Incorporating lead education into existing food growing nutrition programs
• Soil sampling
• Improving housing codes related to lead identification and exposure.

Award recipients in the Detroit area are:

• City of Detroit Health Department – Head Start Service Integration Project: Lead Prevention – $75,000
• City of Detroit Health Department – Lead Education and Prevention Service for Pregnant Women – $75,000
• Institute for Population Health, Inc. – Protect Michigan’s Children: Actions to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning. A Pilot Project – $75,000
• Oakland County Health Division – Multi-Component Lead Poisoning Testing and Education Initiative for Oakland County – $75,000
• Southeastern Michigan Health Association/CLEARCorps Detroit – Lead Safe Blocks: 48206 Primary Prevention Project – $75,000

Other awardees include:

• District Health Department #10 in West Michigan- Primary Lead Exposure Prevention Project for Pregnant Women and Families – $66,726
• Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, Inc. – Infant/Toddler Home Screening – $75,000

• Jackson County Health Department – Preventing Lead Exposure in Pregnant Women – $15,805
• Michigan State University Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine – Worksite Intervention to Mitigate Child Take-Home Lead Exposure – $75,000
• National Center for Healthy Housing – Technical Assistance for Code Transformation and Innovation Collaborative – $75,000 (Maryland)
• Our Kitchen Table – Child Lead Exposure Elimination: Innovation Grant – $75,000 (GR)

“The commission was very pleased with the caliber of the projects proposed through this RFP process,” says Dr. Eden Wells, MDHHS chief medical executive and CLEEC chair. “We look forward to seeing the end results.”

The CLEEC was established in 2017 to coordinate all efforts for the elimination of child lead exposure statewide, including the implementation of recommendations from the report A Roadmap to Eliminating Child Lead Exposure issued by the Child Lead Poisoning Elimination Board in November 2016. The commission prioritized the recommendations to develop a five-year Action Plan, grouping the objectives into six categories: regulations/laws, funding, testing, data, partnerships and education.

Funded projects address the prioritized recommendations, are based on science and best practices and must show demonstrable results within one year.

For more information about CLEEC and the Action Plan, visit Michigan.gov/leadcommission.

  City of Detroit Health Department, CLEARCorps Detroit, Department of Medicine, District Health Department #10, Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, Inc., Institute for Population Health, Jackson County Health Department, Michigan State University Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Center for Healthy Housing, Oakland County Health Division, Our Kitchen Table, Southeastern Michigan Health Association