Lead Poisoning Prevention Week is October 23-27! The City of Kankakee’s Economic and Community Development Agency (ECDA) was awarded a Lead Hazard Reduction grant with a Healthy Homes Supplemental grant from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2022. This program is intended to eliminate lead hazards in their home and address health and safety concerns. HUD is always committed to providing sustainable housing to protect children and families. This grant gives property owners the opportunity to have their properties inspected for lead hazards as well as other health and safety concerns.
Lead is a naturally occurring metal that can cause negative health effects. People are exposed to lead by eating lead chips, ingesting contaminated food or water, and or by breathing in lead dust. Children younger than 6 years are more likely to be exposed to lead dust due to their hand to mouth behavior. Many children ingest lead dust by putting objects such as toys and dirt in their mouth. Because of their developing nervous system, children younger than 6 years old are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead exposure since lead is easily absorbed in their nervous system. Here is a helpful graphic to show where lead can be found in the home:
The Lead Program has a goal to educate people about the hazards of lead-based paint and home safety. Once a household is found to be eligible, the ECDA team complete an inspection and will create an approach to eliminate those identified hazards. We encourage the community to apply to see if you qualify and how we can provide you the most assistance from our programs provided by HUD.
If you are interested in filling out a pre-application form to see if you are eligible, visit our office or click the link to fill out online https://ecda.citykankakee-il.gov/pre-application.php.
This blog post was written by Lead Program Manager, Jan Gathing.