The group known as Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing outlined demands like increased testing and a resource center for the city to adequately and quickly address the lead poisoning crisis in the city at a Monday press conference, following the city's recent loss of $3.3 million in federal funding for lead remediation.
In addition to the calls for increased lead testing for children in preschool and kindergarten, the group is also asking for restored incentives for landlords to remediate contaminated properties.
However, these demands aren't new, CLASH President Yvonka Hall said. The organization outlined plans for remediation in 2019, Hall said, but the city hasn鈥檛 followed through.
"I haven't heard our plan put in place," Hall said. "We've all heard our talking points talked about from other organizations, but talking is a whole bunch different than doing and for us it's about doing."
Cleveland's childhood lead poisoning rates are nearly four times the national average, according to the Cleveland Department of Public Health, and lead paint from the city's aging housing stock is the main contributor.
No amount of lead in the human body is safe, according to health officials. Once in the body, lead can cause lifelong health effects, and children under the age of 6 are at the highest risk. Childhood exposure to lead can cause brain damage and learning and behavioral problems among other long-term health effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Lead poisoning is the main driver of the disproportionate health burden that Clevelanders face throughout life," Hall said. "Cleveland has not done enough to keep children from being poisoned every single day. Today the residents and representatives from local and national organizations are calling on Cleveland City Council leadership to move in the right direction to address public enemy number one."
Cleveland resident Erika Jarvis was diagnosed with lead poisoning at the age of 4 while unknowingly living in a home contaminated with lead paint. Now, as an adult, she's still living with the effects of lead in her body.
"I am 38 years old," Jarvis said "I don't know what's going to happen to me later on in life. One thing that I can say, this insanity cycle that we're in, where we continue to do the same thing and expect a different result, it's not working. We have to think outside the box."
CLASH is also demanding additional funding for the city's mobile health clinics to support childhood lead testing on evenings and weekends and an audit on agencies and organizations that have received ARPA funding for lead remediation. The group says this will help determine what investments have already been made.
Cleveland鈥檚 public health director David Margolius says lead remediation remains a top priority, and the department has worked to increase staff to address lead paint specifically.
But the best way to solve the problem in Cleveland is to build new houses, Margolius said.
"Every new home, every new apartment that's built is a place that will never poison a child," he said. "Ultimately, that's why other cities have lower lead poisoning rates than Cleveland is because they have more newer homes. And so, all of that work together is what we're trying to do to."
City departments are planning to find ways to collaborate directly to ensure remaining HUD grants for lead paint remediation don't go to waste, according to Margolius.
The city announced the hiring of Arin Miller-Tait as the new Director of the Department of Community Development Monday. In this role, Miller-Tait will be responsible for managing the housing and neighborhood development strategy, administering federal grants and overseeing cross-departmental collaboration, according to a news release.
This new hire is a sign of progress, Margolius said, and may bring a renewed approach to Cleveland's lead paint problem.
"We still have to work to build those connections at Washington D.C. and Columbus to show folks not only that we can do this work, but how important it is to not take our foot off the gas," Margolius said. "This is a $10 billion problem, and so every penny counts."
