In December 2016, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced the release of “Lead-Free Kids: Preventing Lead Poisoning in Philadelphia,” a plan to improve the City’s efforts to prevent lead poisoning in Philadelphia’s children.
In addition to releasing the plan, the Mayor brought together a Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Group to review the City’s lead plan and offer additional recommendations on how the City and other organizations can reduce lead poisoning in Philadelphia.
This Advisory Group has met several times in January and February 2017 and has now produced a set of draft recommendations for public comment.
The Advisory Group’s draft recommendations include strategies to prevent lead exposure, called primary prevention, and strategies to minimize further exposure in young children who have elevated blood lead levels, called secondary prevention. To improve primary prevention, the Advisory Group’s draft recommendations include partnering with programs that already reach pregnant women and families with young children to educate them about tenants’ rights and creating incentives for landlords to comply with the Lead Paint Disclosure Law. To improve secondary prevention, the draft recommendations include coordinating code enforcement and lead paint enforcement.
Now, we want to hear from you.
You can comment on the Advisory Group’s draft recommendations in one of two ways:
- By email to LeadAdvisoryGroup@phila.gov by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 24, 2017.
- In person at the Advisory Group’s upcoming public comment session, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at 4:30 p.m. in the Municipal Services Building (MSB), Room 1450, 1401 JFK Boulevard.
The Advisory Group will review all comments made by members of the public like you before finalizing its recommendations later this spring. The final recommendations will be presented to the Mayor and City Council as well as published on the health department’s website. Together with the City’s existing lead plan, these recommendations will form the basis of Philadelphia’s expanded efforts to prevent lead poisoning.