MARTINEZ ANNOUNCES $6.5 MILLION TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM LEAD HAZARDS IN THE HOME
New Initiative Expected to Generate Additional $17 Million from Private Sector

WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez announced today $6.5 million to seven organizations throughout the country to help prevent childhood lead poisoning in the home. The grants were made under HUD's Operation LEAP (Lead Elimination Action Program), a new Bush Administration initiative designed to use federal grant dollars to stimulate private sector contributions that will enable children to grow up in homes that are free from lead-based paint hazards.

The funding, announced today by Martinez at The National Center for Healthy Housing's 10-Year Anniversary Reception in Washington, DC, is expected to generate an additional $17 million from businesses, nonprofit organizations and other non-government sources to protect children from potentially deadly lead hazards. (See funding chart or project descriptions.)

"No parent should have to worry about the dangers of lead in their home," said Martinez. "By joining forces with the private sector, we take a significant step toward reaching our goal of eliminating lead poisoning in our homes and protecting the futures of all our children."

The Administration supports the national effort to eliminate this preventable childhood disease with significant increases in funding for HUD's Lead Hazard Control Program - from $80 million in FY 2000 to $136 million in the proposed FY 2004 budget announced earlier this week, which includes $10 million for Operation LEAP. In addition, the President's funding request includes $25 million for an innovative lead hazard reduction demonstration program.

Lead poisoning in children can reduce IQ, cause learning disabilities and impair hearing. Children who have elevated blood lead levels often experience reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and can exhibit behavior problems. At higher exposures, lead can damage a child's kidneys and central nervous system and cause anemia, coma, convulsions and even death.

While average blood lead levels have declined significantly over the past decade, one in six low-income children living in older housing is believed to be lead poisoned. Pregnant women poisoned by lead can transfer lead to a developing fetus, resulting in adverse developmental effects.

Since HUD's Lead Hazard Control program began in 1990, 26 million fewer homes have lead-based paint. Furthermore, in a report released last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the percentage of children with high blood lead levels has been cut in half since 1990, although the prevalence of childhood lead poisoning in low-income older housing remains high. Ten years ago, there was no federal funding for local lead hazard control work in privately owned low-income housing; today, the HUD program is active in over 250 jurisdictions across the country.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities, creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans, supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as well as enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet.

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Fiscal Year 2002 Operation Lead Elimination Action Program (LEAP) Awards Chart

Fiscal Year 2002 Operation Lead Elimination Action Program (LEAP) Descriptions

National Safety Council - $679,346.00
1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW - Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20036
Contact Person: Karen Norris
(202) 293-2270 ext. 461

The National Safety Council will be awarded $679,346.00 to launch a major initiative that will be fueled by private-sector contributions. The initiative will assist community-based organizations in building local capacity for lead hazard control and to implement lead hazard control projects in low income privately-owned rental or owner occupied housing in high risk neighborhoods that contains lead based paint hazards. All lead hazard control work will be carried out in a manner that is consistent with the state of the art. Partners include the Lynchburg, Virginia Neighborhood Development Foundation; Citizens for Lead Education and Poisoning Prevention; and, the National Coalition for Lead Safe Kids.

Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning - $1,152,013.00
227 Masssachusetts Avenue, NE - Suite 200
Washington, DC 20002
Contact Person: Don Ryan
(202) 543-1147

The Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning will utilize a collaborative team of three State agencies, five local health departments, and eleven community-based organizations across the country, as well as the University of Tennessee to leverage the lead-based paint disclosure law to increase private sector resources to control lead-based paint hazards in high-risk housing. The proposed strategies are intended to have direct health benefits, because they will target high-risk properties and foster private sector investment to control lead-based paint hazards.

The ACCESS Agency, Inc. - $800,000.00
1315 Main Street
Willimantic, CT 06226
Contact Person: Ron Mattana
(860) 450-7428

The ACCESS Agency program will include a comprehensive partnership with the ACCESS Agency, the Salvation Army, a coalition of low-income homeowners and landlords of low-income housing, a regional municipal health department, a regional hospital, regional municipalities, area banks and local motels (to provide temporary housing for families whose homes are undergoing lead hazard control action). The program will be designed to: (1)mobilize private sector resources; (2) build a regional capacity and integrate community resources by enlisting the support and resources available through the private sector to address lead hazards in housing; (3) provide meaningful educational activities for residents and landlords that focus on the dangers of lead poisoning in the home and strategies to minimize these dangers; and, (4) provide financial and technical assistance to low-income landlords and homeowners to enable them to upgrade residential units and make them lead-safe for families and children.

Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation - $1,000,000.00
841 North Broadway - Room 104
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Contact Person: Yolanda J. Mack
(414) 286-8244

The Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation proposes to utilize health/housing partnerships toward the eradication of childhood poisoning by the year 2010 in Milwaukee. The program will be conducted in cooperation with the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP), TCF Bank, US Bank, Metcalf Park Resident's Association, Midtown Neighborhood Association, the Apartment Association of Southeast Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee Foundation.

Greater Detroit Area Health Council, Inc. - $999,896.00
333 West Fort Street - Suite 1500
Detroit, MI 48226
Contact Person: Vernice David Anthony
(313) 963-4990

The Greater Detroit Area Health Council, Inc, will partner with the Detroit Community Partnership to Eliminate Lead Poisoning. Fundraising activities are expected to generate $2.1 million in leveraged funds, of which more than $1 million has already been committed . A total of 138 units have been targeted for assessment and lead hazard control services. In addition, the project will establish a database designed to identify, track and update information about lead-affected housing units throughout the city. Public education will also be conducted on a broad scale to maximize the program's impact.

National Center for Healthy Housing - $930,789.00
10227 Wincopin Circle - Suite 100
Columbia, MD 21044
Contact Person: Rebecca Morley
(410) 772-2774

The National Center for Healthy Housing will be awarded $930,789.00 to produce lead-safe home-based child care centers in the City of Syracuse and surrounding Onondaga County and Rochester, NY. Partners include Home HeadQuarters, Inc (a private nonprofit in Syracuse that does home repair assistance), the Family Child Care Satellite Network Office in Rochester (a group that arranges screening and referral services for family child care providers), Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. of Rochester (which provides home improvement loans to moderate and low-income families), the Enterprise Foundation, and the Onondaga County Child Care Council, a nonprofit focused on providing early learning resources. This will be the nation's first effort to focus on ensuring home-based childcare centers are lead-safe and may prove to be a model that can be replicated elsewhere. The purpose of the Home-based Child Care Lead Safety Program is to leverage substantial resources to eliminate lead and the other health and safety hazards from home-based child care residences.

Energy Programs Consortium - $937,956.00
Suite 800
1615 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Contact person: Mark L. Wolfe
(202) 237-5519

The Energy Program Consortium is a joint venture of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, representing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program directors; the National Association for State Community Services Programs, representing the Weatherization Assistance Program directors; and, the National Association of State Energy Officials. The program will conduct fundraising for lead hazard control activities, to be funded by national foundations,corporations and financial institutions. It will build upon the successful collaboration between local lead hazard control and weatherization programs.