You live in Buffalo. So it’s almost a given that you live in a neighborhood that was built almost entirely before the Great Depression. The age of your home may be in three digits. It may even include beautiful, intricately carved woodwork — both inside and out.
These are the charms of living in an older city. But they also put us Buffalonians at “ground zero” for a largely invisible problem that all of us would do well to have a better understanding of — especially those of us with children in and around the house: lead poisoning.
As I’ve quoted lead-poisoning-activist David Hahn-Baker before,
New York has the oldest housing stock in the nation, and Buffalo has the oldest housing stock in New York — making Buffalo ground zero for lead poisoning. And indeed, sadly, Buffalo has six of the highest lead-poisoned zip codes in New York.
Although our older housing stock and our older, walkable neighborhoods add greatly to the charm of living here — and causes Saturday, for many of us, to resemble an episode of “This Old House” as we work on one project or another — we also have to be on guard against the lead paint these houses also come with. Although finally phased out in 1978 (making the U.S. one of the last countries to act), lead paint remains an especially insidious problem in neighborhoods where the intersection old houses, low incomes, and low property values often results in a lack of indoor and outdoor building maintenance. And almost no amount of vigilance can keep deteriorating, flaking, and peeling lead paint from ending up on the hands, in the mouth, and in the lungs of children. Children exposed to lead in their environment during critical developmental stages can suffer heartbreaking, lifelong mental impairment — and social costs that all of us must bear. Many of these effects have been discussed in Buffalo Rising before, most recently by Sarah Cercone of the Western New York Lead Poisoning Prevention Resource Center.
Fortunately, help is available. This Thursday, you can get both plenty of information and potentially some help in assuring your home is lead-free — free! Experts from Erie County and Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. are putting on this workshop that is free and open to the public at the Belle Center on Buffalo’s lower west side.
The lower west side, where Heart of the City does its great work, is one of those places in Buffalo where old houses and low incomes frequently intersect. HOCN has been reaching out proactively to homeowners with visibly peeling paint, offering both information and potentially connections with programs to assist in making homes lead-safe.
A major program to help make Buffalo housing lead-safe, energy efficient, and healthier is the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative.
Last year, through the hard work of the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo and its partner organizations, Buffalo received the distinction of being designated as one of a handful of GHHI pilot communities by the White House. As representatives of the Foundation pointed out at a recent City hearing, GHHI is bringing community redevelopment funds to Buffalo, rather than asking for funding from Buffalo.
Whatever part of Buffalo (or even outside the city) you live, you are more than welcome at Thursday’s session. Find out what you need to know to keep those in your life — especially those precious little ones — safe from the “invisible monster” of lead poisoning.
Get connected:
In collaboration with Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. and The Belle Center, LeadSafe Erie County is bringing “Help Yourself to a Lead-Safe Healthy Home” to the Lower West Side community.
Since there is no medical treatment that permanently reverses the adverse health effects of lead exposure, focusing on primary prevention is critical to address and eliminate the problem. This FREE hour long class informs you of the dangers of lead poisoning and how to protect your family and children from lead in the home. Do you have chipping and peeling paint? Questions on Lead Poisoning Primary Project? Was your house built before 1978? Have questions about lead and lead poisoning?
Get your questions answered at The Belle Center on Wednesday, January 23rd from 6-7pm! RSVP by calling (716) 961-6838 — for questions on this class, please call (716) 961-6800. RSVP is NOT required to attend class — walk-ins welcome!
The following includes a link to a map: