Central Current reported this story with funding from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.
The Central New York Community Foundation has committed another $1 million toward addressing Syracuse’s lead crisis.
The money — which adds to the $2.6 million the foundation has already spent toward addressing the lead crisis — will be spent over the next five years.
Melanie Littlejohn, the president and CEO of the foundation, said they’re not yet sure how the money will be spent or to which organizations it will go. It will be disbursed in various ways.
Some of the money will continue to fund work abating and remediating lead in windows, doors and paint. Since 2018, nearly 1,750 windows and 165 doors have been replaced. About 265 housing units have been constructed or renovated.
The foundation plans disburse some of its money through a participatory budgeting program, a continuation of a program it ran in 2022.
“That’s what this is about, driving lasting sustainable change because our children deserve better,” Littlejohn said. “Kids between the ages of zero and five are the most severely impacted and if we don’t reverse that, shame on us as a community.”
Lead paint in homes has long been a problem in Syracuse. According to data tracked by Onondaga County, nearly 7,000 kids have tested positive for elevated blood-lead levels since 2012.
The first $2.6 million the Community Foundation spent through the LeadSafeCNY initiative to address the crisis has been spent on:
- Construction, renovation and repairs — $1.32 million
- Education and awareness — $247,473
- Workforce development and landlord education — $263,050
- Health and safety (testing) — $190,000
- Public policy and legislation — $80,000
- Mortgages for lead-free homes through Home HeadQuarters— $500,000
On average 430 kids per year since 2018 have been found to have elevated blood-lead levels in the city. Those numbers would likely be higher, but testing numbers have fallen since 2017.
From 2012 through 2017, an average of 5,526 children were tested each year for elevated blood-lead levels. From 2018 on, an average of 4,425 children have been tested — a decline of about 20%.
Some of that can be attributed to a testing lag from 2020 to 2022, the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
That testing trend is on pace to reverse this year. Through May 31, 2,289 children in Syracuse have been tested for elevated blood-lead levels and 212 have tested positive, or about 9.3%. If the pace holds, the city will record the most tests and positives since 2017.
“Our objective is always to get us to zero children being impacted,” Littlejohn said. “And we see that there is a need to continue this work. We’re making progress, but we’ve got to get to zero.”
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