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EPA Lead Program
Grant Fact Sheet
Primary Prevention Partnership
Chicago, Illinois
EPA selected the Metropolitan Tenants
Organization (MTO) in Chicago, IL for a
Targeted Lead Grant.
MTO, in partnership with the Illinois Chapter of
the American Academy of Pediatrics and the
Chicago Department of Public Health, will:
•	Build partnerships between physicians and
housing advocates to address lead
poisoning prevention;
•	Raise the awareness of physicians in high
risk areas of Chicago about the role they
can play to help tenants resolve lead
hazards in their homes;
•	Identify buildings with lead hazards;
•	Facilitate intervention strategies to help
families resolve lead hazards; and
•	Educate parents about lead poisoning and
what they can do to prevent it.
The project will identify, recruit and train the
staff of medical clinics and a university
residential program to identify patients with a
high risk of living in housing containing lead
hazards. Physicians will refer these patients to MTO who will provide the families with education
about lead hazards and poisoning prevention. MTO will perform a visual inspection of their homes
and will help families living in housing units containing lead hazards to get the hazards abated or to
find a lead safe home for the tenants to move into to.
MTO's project is a proactive one which reaches parents before their children have a chance to
become poisoned. It also promotes a partnership between tenants and landlords to improve the
housing situation.
EPA's Targeted Lead Grants
EPA's Targeted Lead Grant Program funds
projects in areas with high incidences of
children with elevated blood-lead levels in
vulnerable populations. In 2007 the Agency
awarded more than $5.2 Million in grants
under this ambitious program. These
targeted grants are intended to address
immediate needs of the communities in
which they are awarded, and will also
highlight lead poison prevention strategies
that can be used in similar communities
across the country.
EPA's lead program is playing a major role
in meeting the federal goal of eliminating
childhood lead poisoning as a major public
health concern by 2010, and the projects
supported by these grant funds are an
important part of this ongoing effort.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control in 1978 there were 13.5 million
children in the US with elevated blood lead
levels. By 2002, that number had dropped
to 310,000.
For more information about EPA's Lead
Program, visit www.epa.gov/lead or call
the National Lead Information Center at
1-800-424-LEAD.
2007 Targeted Lead Grant Program
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
www.epa.gov/lead

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