Health & Human Services
LEAD POISONING PREVENTION
Contemplating a housing rehab project? If you suspect lead on your property and there are children on your premises, you may be eligible for a grant to assist your rehabilitation efforts.
The City of Evanston has been awarded money from the Cook County Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to help Evanston residents to “get the lead out.”
Landlords in Evanston can also save money rehabbing properties that they rent to families with children by qualifying for matching grants. For more information on the grant program, call the Health & Human Services Department at 847.866.2958
Lead poisoning is a condition caused most often by eating lead paint chips or breathing or eating lead dust. Lead is especially harmful to infants and children 6 years of age and younger because their small bodies absorb lead more easily than an adult’s does. Lead poisoning can slow a child’s development and cause learning and behavior problems. Even small amounts of lead can damage your child’s brain, kidneys and stomach.
Children may be exposed to lead from peeling or chipping paint in homes build before 1978; dust from sanding or removing old paint and wallpaper; soil near a major highway or industry that uses lead, or around an older home with chipping outside paint; old water pipes made of lead or newer fixtures that contain lead solder; food grown in contaminated soil or stored in handmade pottery or opened cans; bullets and fishing sinkers and hobbies that use lead, such as ceramics and stained glass.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES