Project Funder: New York State Department of Health 
Project Partners: Health departments for Albany, Broome, Chautauqua, Dutchess, Erie, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Ulster, and Westchester counties, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Project Contact: Laura Fudala, lfudala@nchh.org
Project Description:
In 2007, New York State began an innovative $3 million pilot initiative to curtail childhood lead poisoning dramatically in the state. The Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Initiative authorized health departments to gain access to high-risk homes for the purposes of education and inspection. Previously, health departments were only able to gain entry to a home if a child already diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level was known to reside there. This significant policy shift opened the door for health departments to take a more proactive and effective approach. Based on the promising results of the pilot, the Primary Prevention Initiative was declared a permanent program in 2009.
Now funded at $10 million annually, the Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program consists of the 15 local health departments whose counties account for 80 percent of children under the age of six with newly identified BLLs of 10 µg/dL and above. NCHH provides ongoing technical assistance and evaluation support to the NYSDOH and to Primary Prevention Program grantees.