Media Release
3435 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri 64111; Fax: 816-759-6828

Release No. 2000-01-03
March 1, 2000

SIX AGENCIES APPROVED FOR RURAL LEAD RISK REDUCTION FUNDING

KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- Six community organizations will receive a total of $967,000 from the Missouri Housing Development Commission to fund lead risk reduction activities.

The grants are part of a $4 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant for rural housing and economic development awarded to MHDC last summer.

The lead risk reduction proposals funded include:

  • Northeast Community Action Agency (including Lewis, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Polk, Randolph and Shelby counties)

$257,000
  • Economic Security Corporation of Southwest Area (Newton, McDonald and Barton counties)

$250,000
  • Green Hills Community Action Agency (Caldwell, Davies, Grandy, Harrison, Linn, Livingston, Mercer, Putnam and Sullivan counties)

$250,000
  • Chariton County Health Center

$10,000
  • Rolla/Meramec Regional Planning Commission

$100,000
  • Central Missouri Counties Human Development Corporation

$100,000

"We hope these funds will begin to address the need for decreasing the risk of lead contamination, especially in those households with young children," said Attorney General Jay Nixon, a member of the Missouri Housing Development Commission. "We also have emphasized that priority be given to homes where children have been determined to have an elevated blood lead level (BLL)."

Each of the proposals being funded was submitted in October in response to a notification of funding availability published by MHDC. MHDC staff then reviewed each of the proposals for viability and the for the submitting organization's ability to complete the proposal goals.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those most commonly affected by lead contamination are children who are poisoned by lead dust from deteriorated paint in older housing. A lesser number of cases – though often more serious – are caused by repainting and remodeling projects that disrupt old painted surfaces without proper safeguards to control, contain, and cleanup lead dust.

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