By Gilat Melamed Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — According to the Onondaga County Health Department, more than 11 percent of children tested in Syracuse last year had elevated levels of lead in their blood. A $2 Million grant is looking to change this.
Last week, the Central New York Community Foundation announced it will be giving $2 million to local community organizations to fight against childhood lead poisoning in Syracuse. Home Headquarters Syracuse will be receiving nearly nearly $200,000 of that money, with $150,000 of it going to replace windows and doors on homes. Katie Bronson, the Director of Community Housing Initiatives at Home Headquarters, says windows and doors are a culprit of many lead issues.
“We’re constantly opening and closing them, which causes not only lead paint chips, but also dust, lead dust, which often causes lead poisoning in children,” Bronson said.
Shamari Byrd, who lives on South Salina St., and her 9-month-old daughter, know the reality of this all to well. They lived in a home with unsafe levels of lead.
“My reaction was to contact the landlord and let him know, due to the fact that I had a newborn that I was bringing in to the household,” she said. “It took him months upon months to come in so I ended up calling codes, codes got on him and he came and he repainted the house, but that just wasn’t good enough for me.”
The two areas the grant will be targeting is the the area north of I-690 between Pearl and Lodi Streets, and the Brighton Neighborhood of Syracuse’s South Side, which is where Byrd lives. According to the Onondaga County Health Department, 24% of children living in the Brighton Neighborhood, who were tested, have unsafe levels of lead.
“You have kids that run around and if there’s lead in yards, they’re eating dirt, so there’s a possible way for them to get contaminated with lead and that’s deadly,” says Byrd.
Home Headquarters will be using some of the grant money to educate residents living in these areas on how to have a lead safe home. Bronson laid out some of the ways the program will do this.
“Cleaning techniques, what to identify in their home, and who to contact if they need to address the lead in their home,” she said.
The third program Home Headquarters will be running is training workers on how to remove lead.
If you notice lead in your home Bronson says to contact the Onondaga County Health Department, the Onondaga County Lead Hazard Reduction Program, or Home Headquarters Syracuse.
