Programs & Services - Lead Safe DC

Lead Safe DC - The National Nursing Centers Consortium

Angela A. Wyan
Director of DC Operations and Community Outreach
National Nursing Centers Consortium LeadSafe D.C.
1001 Connecticut Ave.
NW Suite 407
Washington, DC 20036
(o): 202.223.1005
(c): 267.528.7793
(f): 202.223.1779
www.leadsafedc.org
www.nncc.us

Washington D.C. has a long history of problems with the presence of lead in resident homes.  D.C. rates for childhood lead poisoning are among the highest in the nation.  Nearly 80 percent of homes in D.C. were built before 1978 - the year the federal government banned lead paint. Despite this high percentage of potentially contaminated homes, only 30 percent of the city's children are tested for lead poisoning every year.

Furthermore in 2005, the EPA determined that the city's water supply had above the legal limit of lead in its water, alarming residents who wanted more information to address their concerns.

Lead Safe D.C. responds to the need for a better understanding of the dangers of lead on two fronts: 1) Lead Safe DC educates residents with a broad primary prevention program, and 2) spearheaded the creation of a grassroots public policy task force with the goal of ridding the nation's capital of childhood lead poisoning.

Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S Centers for Disease Control, Lead Safe DC is in its third year and has reached over 1,000 mothers in high risk neighborhoods with lead poisoning prevention education. The program partners with local health centers and maternity wards to provide educational home visits and community center classes on lead. Lead Safe DC also has established the Lead Elimination Task Force, which consists of academics, federal and local officials, nurses and doctors who meet monthly to create strategies, form partnerships and leverage resources to attack the problem of lead poisoning.