Agencies discuss lead abatement efforts at press conference
A press conference took place at Lewiston City Hall recently to discuss how federal grants received by the City of Lewiston, Healthy Androscoggin, Pine Tree Legal and the Lewiston School Department will be used to fund a multi-pronged effort to combat childhood lead poisoning in the Lewiston-Auburn area.
“Enough is enough; this is going to stop” said Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald about a problem that affected a reported 171 young children in Auburn and 507 young children in Lewiston from 2003 to 2012. At the event, various community partners outlined their roles in a plan to free local homes of hazardous substances, such as lead, and to cope with the medical, developmental and legal problems exposure to such substances can cause in young children.
Partners involved in the effort have included the state’s U.S. Congressional Delegation, the Maine Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Maine Center for Disease Control, the JT Gorman Foundation, Community Concepts, Central Maine HealthCare, St. Mary’s Health System, Healthy Androscoggin, Head Start, Bates College, the Lewiston and Auburn Housing Authorities and the Lewiston and Auburn Community Development Departments.
For more information about the program, call Economic Development Specialist Misty Parker at 513-3126 (TTY/TDD 513-3007).