Chicago
The City of Chicago received $350,000 through cooperative agreement EH21-2102 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in FY 2022. The funds address childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance programmatic activities conducted during September 30, 2022 to September 29, 2023.
The strategies focus on community-based approaches for lead hazard elimination and emphasize population-based policy intervention.
To learn more about these efforts in Chicago, contact the program below.
Chicago Department of Public Health
Lead Poisoning Prevention and Healthy Homes
333 S. State Street, Room 200
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: 312-747-9884
Chicago Collaborates on Lead-Based Paint Hazards
The City of Chicago has approximately 8,000 children under 6 years of age living in privately owned, government-subsidized rental housing provided by the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program who are at risk of lead exposure. Within 30 days of being notified that a child in the HCV program has an elevated blood lead level (BLL), CHA must conduct an environmental investigation. CHA and Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) must coordinate to ensure that children receive appropriate follow-up services.
CDPH established a partnership with CHA to identify children at risk of lead exposure. CHA shared the names and addresses of all HCV-recipient children under the age of 6 years with CDPH. CDPH identified children with elevated BLLs on the CHA list and returned the information to CHA.
CHA conducts environmental investigations and enforces requirements for lead-based paint hazard remediation. CDPH will be the first jurisdiction in Illinois to do this on a monthly basis once the project has been established.
In 2018, CDPH identified approximately 150 HCV-recipient children with elevated BLLs and referred all of them for follow-up care.
Funding for this work was made possible in part by NUE2EH001376 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.