Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #98787

Robert Himmelsbach, BA, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2100 West Girard Ave., PNH Building #3, Philadelphia, PA 19130-1400, 215-685-2782, Robert.Himmelsbach@phila.gov, Sydney M. Jaffe, EdD, Professional Healthcare Institute, 1333 W Cheltenham Av, Melrose Park, PA 19027, Peter Palermo, MS, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Division of Early Childhood, Youth and Women's Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2100 West Girard Ave., PNH Building #3, Philadelphia, PA 19130-1400, Demian P. Ellis, MS, Lead Program Coordinator, USEPA Region III, Waste & Chemicals Management Division, 1650 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, and Richard E. Tobin, MS, MPA, Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 2100 W Girard Ave, PNH #3, Philadelphia, PA 19130-1400.

In 2003, the Philadelphia Health Department, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program received a grant from the EPA Region III Lead Office for Lead Abatement Training and Infrastructure Development. The CLPPP had received a HUD Lead Abatement Demonstration grant through which we planned to hire private sector contractors to conduct lead hazard remediation. These contractors were State Certified, as were their workers, to EPA requirements. The goal of the new EPA grant project was to train homeless persons to be certified as lead workers and assist them to obtain work and remain employed. The training would include job-readiness skills, and would provide them with tools and equipment that they would need. Our contractors agreed to interview the new workers, for possible employment. A local organization was already providing the job-readiness training to homeless persons, and became our partner. To certify the trainees, they became accredited as a PA Lead Abatement Training Provider site. Of the twenty-two individuals trained, twenty-one passed the certification test and ten have been hired as lead abatement workers. A success rate of 45% is not as great as we hoped but still acceptable. Part of the reason for the low employment rate is due to the slowing of lead hazard control work performed by the contractors caused by reduced lead hazard control funding to the City. Despite several delays in implementation, environmental training funds contributed to work preparedness training and in some cases, employment of men in a skilled field.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe steps taken to expand existing training to include persons experiencing homelessness.
• Identify sources of environmental haard remediation funding suitable for such a program
• Assess changes needed to make future programs of this type more effective.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation