The Central New York Community Foundation will be putting another $400,000 toward fighting childhood lead poisoning in Central New York.
The funding will help sustain LeadSafeCNY, an initiative run by the Community Foundation, and will help the organization hire a social care navigator.
Syracuse and Onondaga County have long struggled to tackle the area’s lead paint crisis. Since the beginning of 2023, 9.4 percent of children tested for lead poisoning in Syracuse had shown elevated lead blood levels, according to data from the Onondaga County Health Department.
Lead exposure has been linked to behavioral and mental health challenges as well as crime, literacy, and graduation rates.
The funding came from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, based in New York City, and is meant to help LeadSafeCNY develop outreach and community engagement strategies to fight the lead crisis.
“What we’re trying to do is get the infrastructure to be able to do all of those things by having a director, a coalition, and getting folks around the table to be thoughtful around this issue,” Buckingham said.
The money will also help sustain the social care navigator for LeadSafeCNY for two years. In addition, it will help fund its executive director position, which is held by LaToya Jones.
Buckingham said the funding will help LeadSafeCNY reach more children at risk for childhood lead poisoning. The LeadSafe coalition has done much of its work in the North Side, on Butternut and Lodi streets, and on the South Side, around West Brighton Avenue and South Salina Street.
Since LeadSafeCNY’s launch in 2018, the group has helped fund the remediation of lead in 165 doors and more than 1,740 windows. It’s also helped fund the construction of 226 lead-free rental units, the organization said.
Buckingham hopes to gain funding so the coalition can tackle more remediation in homes while also replacing lead-contaminated water fountains in the Syracuse City School District.
“When we say that we want to live in a safer and a better community that we want to decrease poverty, we want to decrease crime, you might want to start with this little silent thing happening in the background called childhood lead poisoning that oftentimes goes unnoticed until it’s too late,” Buckingham said.
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