Birmingham Hosts
Safe and Healthy Homes Community Meeting

[Photo 1: Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid joins the Safe and Healthy Home Community Meeting]
Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid joins the Safe and Healthy Home Community Meeting.

Lead poisoning is a problem we can fix.

Birmingham hosts Safe and Healthy Homes Community Meeting.

HUD's lead hazard control program is working; we have more we can do; and we're doing it. The Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and HUD's Healthy Homes grantees are bringing together representatives from selected communities to develop local strategies that will advance the elimination of lead-based paint hazards throughout the country.
[Photo 2: Conference participants hear about partnerships and discuss strategies]
Conference participants hear about partnerships and discuss strategies.

Recently, the Birmingham HUD Office with the help of Lynn Battle, Citizens' Lead Education and Poisoning Prevention (CLEPP) and HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, hosted one of several Safe and Healthy Homes Community Meetings to be held nationwide this year. An impressive group of partners in HUD's efforts to address lead-based paint hazards participated in the April 14, 2005 meeting. Representatives from the Regional Offices of the CDC and EPA were among participants from the Alabama Department of Public Health, Jefferson County Health Department, local Public Housing authorities, University of Alabama Birmingham, Tuskegee Institute, Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity and the City of Birmingham Community Development Office.

[Photo 3: Dr. Kirk Avent, Jefferson County Health Department discusses elevated blood lead levels in children]
Dr. Kirk Avent, Jefferson County Health Department discusses elevated blood lead levels in children.

Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid gave remarks in the morning session. Birmingham City Councilwomen, Valerie Abbott and Carol Smitherman joined Jefferson County Commissioner, Shelia Smoot at the working lunch roundtable discussion. They addressed the group and expressed their appreciation for the efforts being taken to address lead-based paint hazards in housing throughout the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama.

Birmingham Field Office Director, Cindy Yarbrough said, "This collaborative approach provides a more effective way to reduce lead poisoning from homes in our communities and I'm pleased that everyone at the meeting seemed to embrace the concept."

 
Content Archived: July 11, 2011