    When Home is the Most Dangerous Place: How a Community Development Organization Learned to Get the Lead Out When Home is the Most Dangerous Place: How a Community Development Organization Learned to Get the Lead Out
The debacle of lead-poisoned children in Flint, Michigan reminded us of the insidious and permanent impact of this toxic poison on a child’s brain. Before Flint, many Americans thought the problem of environmental lead had been “solved,” when the US eliminated lead from paint in the 70s and gasoline by 1996.1 Those sensible regulations led to a 90 percent reduction in the average blood lead levels of American children – raising their average IQ by 6 points and saving society billions of dollars. However, millions of children (and seniors) living in older homes, especially ones with flaking paint, are still being lead poisoned. And unlike Flint, water is less likely to be the culprit. Instead, the source of the lead threat is dust in homes. On floors, countertops and windowsills, for example, microscopic particles of lead from old paint cling to the dust and get ingested by children. Today, the vast majority of children who become poisoned by lead come from lower-income families of color – those least able to shoulder this added burden.
Recent research makes it clear – even lower levels of lead affect children’s cognitive capacity, behavior (especially impulse control), health and of course, chances in life. Underachieving students, special education, incarceration and imprisonment, health care, and numerous other costs are borne by taxpayers and communities when lead sneaks into a child’s bloodstream. Despite the many threats in the news that face urban kids, this paper argues that the most dangerous place for millions of them is in their own home, where they spend about 70 percent of their time...
Keywords: Community development, lead poisoning, Isles
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