Cleveland lawmakers are seeking new ways to address the city's environmental issues after losing more than $3 million in lead remediation funds.
The state is revoking $3.3 million given to the city to address lead poisoning, as part of the Ohio Department of Development鈥檚 Lead Safe Ohio Program.
Though the city is making slow progress, Cleveland has some of the highest rates of lead poisoning in children. The rate dropped to a new low of 14.5% in 2025, but that鈥檚 still much higher than the national rate of 2.5%.
A booth at the Rice Branch of Cleveland Public Library, made from a mushroom byproduct, recently allowed residents to share personal stories about their environment.
Lack of resources
In their recordings, some residents chose to highlight how city, state or federal policy has failed to improve urban environments.
Jennifer Lumpkin, an environmental organizer on Cleveland鈥檚 East Side and founder of , said she鈥檚 the first person on her street 鈥� East Boulevard 鈥� to register her home as an urban farm with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
She said one of her biggest motivators was to reduce the risk of lead poisoning in kids and pregnant women in her neighborhood. However, the journey hasn鈥檛 been smooth.
鈥淢y plan was to be able to own a home that was lead-free and to be able to do that in the neighborhood where there's plenty of green space and trees,鈥� Lumpkin said. 鈥淎nd I've learned that there is an even deeper challenge as the gender I am, because many of the benefits and programming to upkeep your home, you disqualify if you don't already have children.鈥�
Many programs aimed to help with lead abatement on older properties offer grants only for homeowners with children.
Kareem Henton, cofounder of Black Lives Matter Cleveland, found himself in a similar situation when he wanted to find a productive use for an abandoned lot in his Cleveland neighborhood. He said when he tried to buy the lot, he ran into a lot of red tape from the city.
鈥淲hat people say versus what they do oftentimes are two different things,鈥� Henton said. 鈥淭hey say that they want more environmental stewards, people that care about the environment and care about the neighborhoods, but they don't make it easy for you to be able to do it.鈥�
Henton ended up buying the lot. He said he鈥檚 thinking of potential projects that could help make the neighborhood greener and more beautiful. But while the city owns thousands of vacant lots through its land bank program, purchase applications are for now to improve efficiency.
Deborah Davis says dust and debris spread onto her property after a construction crew demolished a house next door to her in 2017. She says she called the city to say she was concerned about lead poisoning.
"(A city worker) did tell me that it was a high content of lead and it just appeared to be dangerous," Davis said. "It was just dusty everywhere, my driveway, my house, the land."
She says the city never took action, and she鈥檚 worried about exposure when future demolitions happen.
Demolition crews must comply with federal lead-safe work practices such as containing dust within work areas. But the laws don鈥檛 apply to total demolitions.
Being the change
Other residents sounded a more optimistic note, explaining how they try to help the environment in their everyday lives.
Erin Grohe, program manager at the nonprofit CASA of Medina County for abused or neglected children, said she only drank water from single-use plastic bottles while growing up. Going to college and learning about the environmental impact of plastic made her change her behavior.
鈥淚 think one of the things that I've (done) to preserve not just my immediate surroundings, but thinking globally, has been transitioning to drinking tap water,鈥� Grohe said.
She also encourages others to switch to tap to prevent plastic pollution. Plastic pollution in some parts of Lake Erie has tenfold in the last decade, and has also affected ocean life.
Tai Renee King said she's changed her view of environmental challenges, seeing them more as opportunities for reinvention than obstacles. King grew up in a community where many buildings and lots fell into decay.
"When things are seemingly destroyed, there are so many possibilities of what they can become. And so environmental justice to me is to reinvoke beauty in the environment, not just the natural environment, but also the structural environment," she said.
There are more abandoned homes now than when she grew up, but new uses for them could encourage more people to stay in the city, King said.
Cleveland has a to help nonprofits acquire or renovate vacant properties, and other programs help residents redevelop empty lots as community gardens.
The storytelling booth was a collaborative project by Concerned Citizens Organizing Against Lead, My Grow Connect, Redhouse Studio, Cleveland Public Library and Neighborhood Connections. The project was funded by the Saint Luke's Foundation.
The idea for this story came from 精东影业鈥檚 commitment to engaged journalism, telling stories with people and communities across Northeast Ohio. If you have an idea, call or text us at 216-916-6090.
