The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties has received a $200,000 state grant that will add another layer to the THRIVE Cornhill initiative — an educational and research program focused on good health in a community riddled with lead.
Cornhill has long faced high rates of childhood lead poisoning — although city, county and nonprofit interventions have brough the rate down over time — because of its older housing stock and poor maintenance, often by absentee landlords. But the lead isn’t just inside the buildings; much of the neighborhood’s soil is contaminated with lead paint dust that has fallen off the houses.
This “community-driven environmental education and engagement initiative,” as the Community Foundation has referred to the project, THRIVE: Greenprint Roots, will teach residents how to live healthier lives while avoiding the risks posed by lead contamination, and gather research on all the ways lead has affected the Cornhill community.
The foundation is partnering with the Mid-Utica Neighborhood Preservation Corporation for the educational and community engagement portions of the project and with SUNY Polytechnic Institute for the data gathering.
The grant is one of 32 Environmental Justice Community Impact Grants, worth a total of $6 million, given out by the New York State Department of Environmental Justice to help groups who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate and pollution.
“For two decades, DEC’s Environmental Justice grant programs have delivered real outcomes in support of a healthier, more sustainable future for people all across New York,” DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in a statement on Earth Day, April 22. “The awards we are announcing today, through Governor Hochul’s leadership, support organizations that are working tirelessly to lift up their communities and advance an environmental justice.”
Lead is not the only issue facing Cornhill
Lead paint and poorly maintained buildings are not the only issue facing Cornhill, noted Jessica Hernandez, strategic initiatives program manager at the Community Foundation. There’s also a high rate of poverty, many families without a vehicle and a lack of opportunity for young adults who leave the area in droves, possibly forever, she said. And there are guns and gangs, she acknowledged.
“Working families don’t have the time away from work to take their kids to a basketball practice or a computer class that they wanted to take,” Hernandez said. “So a lot of the kids in our area miss out because their parents are poor, basically.”
That’s why there’s THRIVE Cornhill, otherwise known as the Cornhill Revitalization Initiative, on which the City of Utica, People First, the Mid-Utica Neighborhood Preservation Corporation and the Community Foundation are partnering. There are several projects underway to transform the neighborhood into a safe and inviting place that celebrates local culture and provides opportunity for its residents.
The environmental justice program is just the latest.
Here are the other components so far:
By bringing services and opportunities straight into the community, transportation ceases to be an issue and residents no longer have excuses for not participating, Hernandez said.
“We’re serving the Cornhill community in ways that it hasn’t been served in many years,” she said.
As for Greenprint Roots, Hernandez talked about multiple layers:
Another difficulty with lead is that many children aren’t tested as early as they should be, she said. So if a child develops medical behavioral issues, no one may realize they’re from lead, she said. Instead people might attribute the issue to something else, whether it’s your background, your parents, your race, etc., she said.
So the research will look at the prevalence of lead poisoning in the area as well as of behavioral or learning issues to determine their association with lead from an epidemiological standpoint.
“We’re missing that piece and the piece is that research,” Hernandez said.
Cornhill has an unusually high concentration of people with social, financial and mental issues, Hernandez said. So the programs of THRIVE Cornhill are bringing different services and opportunities to them to help them get ahead, she said.
And they’re teaching them how to change their behavior to stay safe.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Grant to support lead education as part of THRIVE Cornhill in Utica
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
