Project Description Narrative:
Exposure to lead remains a serious problem in low-income, African-American and immigrant communities. In the city of Milwaukee, a four- to five-fold disparity exists in childhood lead poisoning prevalence rates between city residents and Wisconsin residents outside of Milwaukee. Research documents that lead in soil is a source of lead exposure for children because it creates a fine dust that is easily tracked into the home and ingested by very young children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasizes primary prevention of lead exposure, focused on eliminating sources of lead in the environment, including soil, before exposure can occur.
As urban agriculture, including residential gardening, is increasingly used as a means to transform and empower communitites, the environmental health risks associated may not be well-known to residents. Project partners aim to establish an innovative, multi-level approach to build knoweldge and capacity to reduce soil lead concentration in two Milwaukee neighborhoods, filling an important gap in current primary prevention efforts and expanding on linkages between organizations working in urban agriculture, healthy food access, and neighborhood redevelopment.
The project will seek to demonstrate the effectiveness of soil and landscape interventions, expand environmental health literacy education and access to soil testing, and create awareness of environmental policy necessary to sustain real change.