Local Leaders Discuss Building a Lead Safe Cleveland

In January 2019, the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition was launched. It was made up of more than 450 members and 120 organizations, including state and local governments, and families who are fed up with Northeast Ohio's children continuing to be poisoned by aging buildings and houses; filled with lead paint. 

For decades, the problem of elevated levels of lead in our region's kids went ignored, even though we knew it can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, which can then cause behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, and hearing issues. 

Even minimal levels of lead have been linked to lower IQ levels. 

Six months after the Coalition formed, draft legislation was sent to the Cleveland City Council, resulting in an historic law that would be proactive in addressing the housing units, rather than being reactive, by merely testing children for lead exposure. 

Host Rick Jackson will be moderating a discussion on the Coalition's progress since then, this coming Thursday at noon, for a virtual City Club of Cleveland Forum titled: Building a Lead Safe Cleveland. 

We'll start the hour by previewing that conversation with two of the leaders. Then, we'll hear additional reporting from our ongoing education series, Learning Curve, in partnership with WKSU. And we'll learn about a new plan from Cleveland Metroparks and other local agencies would create 80 acres of green space off the east side shoreline of Lake Erie, creating essentially a new island. 

Resources

Virtual City Club Forum: Building a Lead Safe Cleveland

Thursday, April 29, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

-Blaine Griffin, Cleveland City Council, Ward 6
-Kim Foreman, Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch

-Kabir Bhatia, Reporter, WKSU
-Nahla Bendefaa, Reporter, WKSU 

-Brian Zimmerman, CEO, Cleveland Metroparks