CLEARCorps Detroit

CLEARCorps Detroit had the pleasure of presenting at a Wayne State Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) Environmental Health Chat on May 13, 2017. The focus of the event was on Lead-Safe Gardening tips and resources available to help the community grow their food for healthy lifestyles.

Thank you to WJBK for highlighting our partnership with the City of Detroit and Wayne State University. We have been reaching out door to door in the 48214 zip code and are excited to see that this effort will be expanding. Lead prevention starts before children are poisoned!

Read the full article here

Thank you to the Detroit Free Press for highlighting how often lead is found in our homes in Detroit. We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us on the work that CLEARCorps Detroit is doing to combat lead poisoning and what we can do together as a community to fix this problem!

To read the full article, click here.

On May 8, 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded Wayne State University’s Center for Urban Studies nearly $700,000 to “assess the reliability of assessments completed using the Healthy Homes Rating Tool” (HHRT), and to “test… assessors on providing likelihoods and outcomes based upon U.S. data, and assess the effect of training on assessment quality and reliability.”  CLEARCorps/Detroit uses the HHRT to help determine home repairs for clients in our Healthy Homes Detroit program.

The HHRT is an integral part of prioritizing health and safety repairs, and determining which hazards pose the greatest risk to our clients and their children.  CLEARCorps/Detroit looks forward to working with WSU’s Center for Urban Studies to evaluate how we can best reduce health and safety hazards in our client’s homes.

To read an overview of the grant, please click HERE.

We are truly thankful for this commendation, and will continue creating healthy homes for children and families. Thank you!

On January 4, 2012, the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report entitled Low Level Lead Exposure Harms Children: A Renewed Call for Primary Prevention. In this report, the committee recommended lowering the Blood Lead Level (BLL) considered to be poisoned from a minimum of 10 ug/dl to a minimum level of 5 ug/dl.  They cited that BLLs lower than 10 ug/dl still result in “IQ deficits,” “behavioral [problems], particularly attention-related behaviors and academic achievement,” and “adverse health effects [such as] cardiovascular, immunological, and endocrine effects.”

What this means for you and your family:

Currently, health care professionals do not consider children with Blood Lead Levels between 1 and 9 ug/dl to be poisoned.  Right now, there are about 250,000 children in the United States who have BLLs at 10 ug/dl or above and are considered to be lead poisoned.  When children with BLLs between 5 and 9 ug/dl are considered poisoned, however, these numbers will increase dramatically.

You may have received a letter from CLEARCorps/Detroit in the mail stating that your child has a BLL between 5 and 9.  While currently your child is not technically poisoned, they will be considered lead poisoned once the new standard of 5 ug/dl goes into effect.

What you can do:

Educate yourself. You will not be able to prevent lead getting into your child’s body unless you are aware of the causes and sources of lead poisoning.  Sign up for our Lead Talk workshop by calling our office at (313) 924-4000.  Lead Talk will provide you with the knowledge and resources necessary to reduce lead hazards in your home.

Follow our 10 Steps to Prevent Lead Poisoning found on the home page of our website.  Eat your veggies every day!  This will allow your child’s body to begin to cleanse itself.

You may qualify for a CLEARCorps program to make your home a safe and healthy place.  Please call our office and ask to speak to a representative today.