A groundbreaking program is underway in Syracuse to connect lead prevention resources to those who need them the most.
Frank Ridzi, the vice president for community investment at the Central New York Community Foundation and a managing partner of the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County, said when he and other researchers looked into literacy in the city of Syracuse, they noticed a connection between children in neighborhoods with chronic lead exposure and lower literacy rates.
So, several coalitions worked together, and they took action.
"(We thought) now that people were collaborating around literacy and collaborating around lead, wouldn't it be great if the collaborators collaborated across those two silos, and we had those two groups reinforcing each other's work?" said Ridzi.
Now, when a local family signs up for free monthly books through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a new program flags whether that child lives in an area with high rates of lead and offers to connect parents with the LeadSafe CNY Coalition.
Director LaToya Jones said the coalition has a number of resources to help, and early intervention is key.
"I have seen some families, and a couple locally, who lost individuals who were lead poisoned when they were kids, and it changed their life,” Jones said. “It starts to affect chronic disease, memory, brain, and those types of things. So to prevent all those chronic diseases and things like that, it's really good to get ahead of it."
Ridzi said this is the first program of its kind, and he hopes it will succeed and expand to other communities.
"We're very good at coalitions, so this is a coalition across coalitions,” Ridzi said. “And that really isn't possible in all communities, so I'm really proud of this community and the way people work together."
Jones said she’d like to collaborate more with hospitals and prenatal services to reach families even before children are born in order to raise awareness for future generations.
“These children will have better futures if they could just be lead free,” said Jones. “If they're lead free, their futures are brighter. They'd be able to be more successful, better health, less chronic disease."
