NEWS INFORMATION FROM

THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
7 October 2003

CITY LEAD POISONING PREVENTION PROGRAM PICKED FOR $3 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING

Harrisburg, PA—Harrisburg’s award winning lead poisoning prevention program is receiving a new $3 million Lead Hazard Control grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD), Mayor Stephen R. Reed announced today, allowing for the significant expansion of the city’s efforts to do further housing rehabilitation and other actions to prevent childhood lead poisoning. First begun by the Mayor in 1995, Harrisburg’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control program received $1.2 million in 2002 from the same federal grant program, and was selected for HUD’s top national ‘best practice’ award for innovative programming, which other cities across the Nation have now begun copying.

Reed said the city’s lead hazard control program removes or abates lead hazards in residential properties, provides codes inspections for rental properties, and public education activities focused on lead paint poisoning prevention. The program is run in conjunction with the PinnacleHealth System’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, who assign a fulltime registered nurse to assist the city’s lead abatement efforts.

The Mayor said more than 150 homes have been renovated through the city’s efforts since the program was first initiated in 1995, including nearly three dozen completed in 2002. Instances of child lead poisoning have dropped dramatically as more and more homes undergo lead paint abatement. In 2002 the city registered the lowest rates for child lead poisoning of any other measured city in the state. The city also operates a “safe house’ for families who are temporarily dislocated while abatement work is underway at their homes.

“Our lead paint poisoning prevention activities are considered the finest in the nation,” said the Mayor. “But our real success is more accurately measured by the number of young lives and minds that we have been able to save from this hidden affliction. The dramatic drop in city-based lead poisoning cases that we have experienced is proof that this comprehensive abatement effort works, and it works well.”

The Mayor said the city’s program, which also receives funding from the PA Department of Health, last year involved the complete rehabilitation of 35 residential properties, with another 38 properties tested and prepared for work this year. More than 75 children resided in the now cleaned properties.

The city’s lead poisoning prevention public education efforts includes the use of popular mascot Stomp, a big blue dinosaur who makes frequent appearances at city-based special events and activities, daycares and schools. Stomp will be one of the featured guests at the city’s annual commemoration of National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which this year will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 22, in the Atrium of the City Government Center.

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