By: Marcus Smith

As we celebrate our 15th year of service to low-income homeowners in Connecticut, we are excited to announce that Connecticut Children’s Healthy Homes Program is expanding statewide.

Our announcement comes during National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, a week in which we, and other similar organizations around the country, take extra steps to raise awareness about the potential long-term consequences of lead poisoning on child development, child health and academic success.

Read our announcement here.

Our statewide expansion is due to a generous $5 million grant from the Connecticut Department of Housing. It will support interventions designed to make homes lead-safe and healthy. Those interventions include:

• Replacing windows and doors, resurfacing walls and floors, and repairing failed exterior siding to mitigate lead exposure.
• Installing ventilation fans to reduce asthma-triggering mold and moisture in bathrooms and kitchens.
• Replacing broken stair treads and handrails to eliminate trip hazards.

Also as part of this grant, Healthy Homes will be eligible to receive up to an additional $15 million to further support its statewide work in future years.

Prior to receiving this grant, Healthy Homes addressed lead and safety hazards in 21 Connecticut communities; 15 of those are served through direct federal and state grants and 6 of those are served through our work as a subcontractor for a federal grant awarded to the Naugatuck Valley Health District.

We believe that expanding statewide will enhance our capacity to further improve the health outcomes of young children and their families. Through our work, we hope Healthy Homes will serve as a catalyst for communities to optimize the health and well-being of all residents.

To learn more about the Healthy Homes program and apply for a grant, click here.

We are also excited to have received two additional grants to further our work.

Healthy Homes is also now implementing a new $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help children and their families in East Hartford and Windham lead healthier lives by eliminating lead paint and other health and safety hazards in homes.

Also, we received a $15,000 Listen for Good grant from the Fund for Shared Insight, which is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. We are thrilled that the impact of that grant will double as the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has generously offered to provide $15,000 in a matching donation. These funds will provide capacity-building and technical assistance to enable Healthy Homes to build internal systems and expertise to better collect and respond to client feedback, which will inform our work on, and enhance, future projects.

The work we do would not be possible without the generosity of both public and private funders. We look forward to putting these grants to good use in enhancing health, development and academic outcomes for vulnerable children around our state.

Marcus Smith is the senior manager of Connecticut Children’s Healthy Homes Program, which is a program of Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health.

To sign up to receive E-Updates from Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health, click here.