Are your Fresno County children exposed to lead at home? Here’s how to get help
Many children living in Fresno County’s poorest neighborhoods are exposed to poisonous lead at home. County officials identify the hazards during routine home inspections, but the risk often remains unabated because families largely cannot afford to remove the lead contamination.
“Year after year, I was identifying lead hazards and handing this big packet of information to parents saying, ‘here are the problems you need to fix to prevent your child from getting sicker,’” said Amy Dobrinin, an environmental health specialist at the Fresno County Public Works and Planning Department. “But they’d always have this desperate look because they’re trying to just buy food and pay the rent. They just didn’t have the money or the expertise to do it themselves.”
But Fresno County residents living in 130 low-income housing units could soon get some help.
Fresno County late last week announced it will use $3 million in federal grant funds to clean up lead hazards in contaminated homes in disadvantaged, low-income areas and educate families on the risks of lead exposure.
To qualify for the funds, residents must live in or rent a home built before 1978. They must also have children younger than six living in or regularly present around the dwelling. The work will begin after January 2022 and run over a three-year period.
The funds build on the county’s robust lead hazards campaign, which provides families with financial assistance to repair lead contaminated homes.
The grant money is part of a wider push from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address lead poisoning in children. HUD awarded nearly $95 million in grants to 28 government jurisdictions in 19 states to identify and clean up dangerous lead for 3,700 low-income families who do not have the means to pay for the costs themselves.
“Maintaining a clean home is one thing but having someone who is trained and certified to identify and either contain or remediate lead hazards is critical to the success of the program,” said HUD spokesperson Eduardo Cabrera. “Fresno County was able to demonstrate that their program will lead to an increasing capacity to provide certified help… and it was a standout in demonstrating that they would target both outreach and education.”
Fresno County is home to eight of the state’s 50 census tracts with the most children with high levels of lead in their blood, according to a 2020 state audit. Seven of the census tracts with the highest number of kids with elevated lead levels were located in or near downtown Fresno, while a single tract in southern Selma also tested high for lead poisoning in children younger than 6, according to the audit.
Children can be exposed to lead by breathing, consuming or touching dust from lead paint; swallowing lead chips from peeling paint on window sills and walls; or playing in outdoor areas with contaminated soil. Household plumbing such as lead-infested pipes can also carry contaminated drinking water, but the funds do not cover the cost for that particular hazard.
Until testing is conducted, many parents are unaware that their child is being exposed to lead.
The funding could have an impact not only on children’s homes, but also on their futures, according to Dr. Francine Farber, a retired school psychologist and administrator who has for decades been advocating for children and families exposed to lead. She said some lower levels of academic achievement among children from impoverished backgrounds could be attributed to brain damage caused by prolonged lead exposure.
“Young children are very, very susceptible to brain damage by ingesting the smallest crumb of lead paint and it’s so prevalent in low-income housing,” she said. “Some of the differences in achievement that are sometimes attributed to socioeconomic issues really may stem, at least in part, from something like undetected brain damage done from ingesting lead paint.”
In a phone interview with The Bee Tuesday, Farber said she is “very happy to hear something is being done” about the high levels of lead exposure in Fresno County children.
“What we’re trying to dispense with is a generational history of failure and this is the kind of funding that can help do away with that,” she said.
Fresno County previously applied for the HUD grant in 2017 and was awarded $1 million to remediate 58 homes, county officials said. In 2019, the county applied for the program again and received an additional $2 million to fund another 100 lead abatement projects. The newly awarded grant is the third installment of federal money that the county will receive.
County officials with the lead hazard control program perform thorough environmental health inspections by testing areas that typically carry high concentrations of lead. Once they identify lead exposure, the county hires a company to remove the tainted debris. The entire process can take up to two months to complete.
Qualifying families who live in Fresno County can apply to receive financial assistance through the lead abatement program on the county website. They will be placed on a wait-list and contacted once the program begins in 2022. Residents can also call the program for more information and to see if they are eligible at 559-600-3357.