By: Deborah Johnson Wood
For the members of the Greater Grand Rapids Children's Environmental Health Initiative, being recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of four national models of community collaboration projects was exciting.
But, receiving a $300,000 grant from the EPA and another $111,456 grant from the CDC was even better.
The grants will fund education programs aimed at making children's homes' safer through the assessment, elimination, and safe handling of biochemical toxics. Those toxics include lead, radon, carbon monoxide, second-hand smoke, and mercury. Childhood exposure to them result in learning deficiencies, asthma-related hospitalizations, cancer, and long-term developmental disorders.
"The federal government sees Grand Rapids as a community that's beginning to think about this problem," says Paul Haan of the Healthy Home Coalition, a partner organization in the children's health initiative. "We're really trying to develop sustainable solutions, like one-on-one counseling, group education, and assessment of the hazards."
Sustainable Research Group is conducting research to determine how many Kent County homes have toxic hazards, and will help identify and develop solutions.
"We're hoping to connect with 100 households by the end of the year," Haan says. "If they have huge issues, like peeling lead paint, we can help them find the money to fix it. If lead is being tracked into the house from a contaminated yard (from peeling exterior paint), we can teach them how to fix that."
Four principal partners form the initiative: Healthy Homes Coalition, Our Kitchen Table, Sustainable Research Group, and West Michigan Environmental Action Council.
Source: Paul Haan, Healthy Homes Coalition
Members of the Greater Grand Rapids Children's Health Initiative receive grant monies from the EPA and CDC (photo courtesy of West Michigan Environmental Action Council)
Related Articles
Leaders of the Lead Rebellion
SWAN kicks off citywide radon testing campaign
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at
[email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.