05/08/06 Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council Steering Committee meeting minutes

Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council

Steering Committee Meeting

Trinity Cathedral

May 8, 2006

2 PM

Welcome and Introductions
1. Representatives from US EPA
  1. Jennifer Ostermeier, Great Cities Intiative
  2. Bill Messenger, Communities and Ecosystems Projects Section
  3. US was one of the first groups to fund true prevention
2. Dr. Maria Pujana
  1. Member of Cleveland Foundation and MetroHealth boards
  2. Works with Invest in Children
3. Marianne Stott
  1. Replacing Lara as the Advocacy Associate at the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry
  2. About to graduate from MSASS
Community Develop Corporations and lead
1. CDCs have unique access to community members
2. Patrick Christie-Mizell (Clark Metro)
  1. Run a series of home repair programs in Wards 14 and 15
    1. Paint program is particularly successful
  2. Educate families about the hazards inside the house
    1. Teach kids at school via STEPS program
  3. Rate of deterioration is much greater than the rate of repair
    1. Need a funding mechanism for repair
    2. A database with units that have had interior/exterior remediation would be useful
3. Toni Jones (Bellaire-Puritas)
  1. Managed the Childhood Lead Exposure Prevention Program
    1. Contacted churches and day care centers to conduct screenings and do outreach
      1. Learned screening was more effective if CDC went to kids
    2. Program is no longer funded, presenting a barrier to continued services
  2. Maintain a licensed lead inspector
    1. Also complete visual clearances for 7-8 other CDCs
  3. Education is not enough to compel community members to use lead-safe work practices
  4. Suggested policy solutions
    1. Require blood lead testing at Kindergarten registration
      1. Children must prove they are immunized
      2. Head-Start entrance form asks for a blood lead level
        
        Test doesn’t have to be recent for entrance
    2. Help schools to understand children’s blood lead levels
    3. Provide funding to assist with relocation during renovation
    4. Develop a creative way to address lead and incite action
4. Walter Wright (Tremont West)
  1. Currently doing less lead work than have historically done
  2. Historically travelled with Mom Mobile to educate residents
    1. TWDC no longer does this type of outreach
  3. Not a lot of contact with the children in the community
  4. Maintains a licensed lead assessor on staff
    1. This is a significant cost
  5. Maintains paint program
5. Carla Moody (Fairfax)
  1. Distributes newsletter to homes, schools, daycares, churches, etc.
  2. Organizes educational/screening sessions at schools/day cares
    1. HIPAA creates some barriers to CDC follow-up
    2. Home daycares are often resistant to blood lead screening
  3. Property owners who meet the income guidelines for a free inspection, don’t often have resources for remediation
    1. Not all houses have the same abatement requirements
6. Do all CDCs have the same level of expertise?
  1. No, but the CDCs often partner with each other
  2. CDCs are not consistently funded
7. Are there inspections when there is a transfer of property?
  1. No, currently Cleveland has no point of sale inspections
    1. Disclosure is required during real estate transactions
  2. Other cities in Cuyahoga County do have point of sale inspections
8. Affordable housing and historic remediation are in conflict with lead
  1. In some cases affordable housing can be linked with lead
  2. Property owners and contractors don’t often ensure lead safety
9. Can dollars that are allocated for other programs (i.e. plumbing, etc.) be used as leverage for lead remediation?
  1. Sometimes the funding is used as a match
    1. Sometimes dollars are blended
    2. Overall capacity of a program
  2. Home repair programs are often attached to Block Grant money
    1. Block grant money requires use of a lead safe contractor
      1. Homeowners often try to avoid lead requirements by utilizing dollars other than block grant money
10. What can the GCLAC do in terms of dialogue to facilitate CDCs lead efforts?
  1. Add representatives to the Environment and Housing committee
Ohio Lead Awareness week, July 17-22
1. In previous years there was a door to door campaign to raise awareness
2. This year organize a rally for lead safe living and create a large visual
  1. Already have permission from the Mayor’s office to place small flags in green space outside of City Hall
    1. Place a flag for every known poisoned child
      1. Continue discussion of whether to place a flag for all known vs. estimate poisoned children
  2. Advocacy and outreach committee will organize majority of efforts
Marketing campaign
1. Received approval to contract with AdCom in the first week of March
2. First five billboards will go up no later than June 1st
3. Created an updated timeline for AdCom
City Council Outreach efforts proposal
1. Develop a strategy to keep the issue funded and maintain prevention efforts after the Saint Luke’s grant
  1. Help to promote marketing campaign
2. Host a meeting for City Council members
  1. Invite City Council to a neutral space for a breakfast presentation
    1. Send a letter to council members on behalf of GCLAC
    2. Develop political will/public investment before approaching foundations
      1. Place a yard marker in homes where kids have been poisoned
  2. Paul Herdeg suggested inviting leaders from first-suburbs
3. Vote resulted in unanimous agreement to support formal pursuit of City Council outreach efforts
List-serve policy, GCLAC membership and logo guidelines
1. Materials need to go through sub-committees to be distributed
  1. Secretary will not distribute materials that were not presented at a sub-committee meeting
2. How do we define membership to the GCLAC?
  1. Anyone who attends a meeting is a member
    1. Council does not want to be exclusive
3. Information about how to use the Logo
  1. Anyone who participates in GCLAC can use the logo
    1. Must follow the printed logo guidelines
      1. Add that logo can’t be used for commercial purposes or to signify endorsement
  2. Is there a description of the lead-safe living campaign?
    1. There will be 5 info sheets that are targeted to different areas about the campaign
EPA R and R Rule
1. Will regulate the renovation and remediation process
2. John Hoose and Lara traveled to Chicago for public testimony
3. Provide written comment before May 25th
  1. Workforce Development committee has five areas of concern
    1. Need some input and specific anecdotes from council
      1. Send comments/anecdotes to Lara by May 12th
      2. Lara will distribute the final version for a vote
        
        EPA encourages comment and needs to hear from non-industry groups
Dr. Barbara Polivka and OSU study of Latino polutaion
1. OSU College of Nursing will complete a study about barriers to testing
  1. Aim to develop an instrument to assess knowledge of lead poisoning prevention in Latino community
  2. Steering committee voted unanimously to send a letter of support
City Club Evaluation
1. Bruce Lanphear spoke as keynote about acceptable poisoning threshold
  1. There was wonderful attendance
    1. 11 of 22 Councilmen attended
    2. Over 120 people attended the short-course in the morning
2. The educational session for Medical providers received excellent feedback
3. Subsequent event geared towards community members had 250 people
  1. Received assistance from CCOAL and Case Western Reserve University Honors Program
Other sub-committee updates
1. Infrastructure/Sustainability efforts
  1. Financing sub-committee met to discuss what is being funded currently and sources, what needs to be funded in the future
    1. The next step is to prioritize these needs
  2. Norm Roulet has been working with Kent State and CSU on a re-development vision for Cleveland
    1. Presented the concept to Ron Richard from the Cleveland Foundation
      1. There is a potential for millions of dollars in development funding being invested in the area
    2. GCLAC representatives should meet with Kent State to educate them about lead issues and incorporate into vision
      1. Ask Leah to coordinate a group to educate KSU
    3. Ensure that lead is included in E. Cleveland 2010
      1. Plan to track all pregnant women to ensure there is no exposure to lead
      2. High probability of litigation against paint companies
        
        Mayor Brewer consulted with Motley Rice
2. Medical
  1. Only one county statewide tests a larger percentage of one-year olds who are Medicaid eligible than Cuyahoga County
    1. Adams County is much smaller than Cuyahoga County
  2. Exploring other opportunities for testing
    1. Filter paper testing
      1. Cleveland lead lab will begin piloting filter paper next month
      2. Metro is also wants to implement filter paper testing
        
        Promote idea of 18-month test for kids between 7-9 ug/dl
  3. Case Medical student will organize a survey of primary care providers in Cuyahoga County to evaluate attitudes to testing
3. Outreach and Advocacy
  1. Alliance for Healthy Homes is planning national and regional summits to develop advocacy agenda
    1. Outreach and Advocacy committee would like someone from GCLAC to participate in the planning committee
      1. Representatives from Environmental Health Watch, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, and CCOAL already participate
      2. Representative cannot be from government agency
4. Environment and Housing Sub-Committee
  1. Sub-committee changed its name
Thank you and good-byes
1. Lara will be leaving sometime in June, this is her last meeting
2. Remy Olson, intern at CDPH, is finished with her studies