Region 1: New England
A Community Based Lead Assessment and Educational Pilot Project
 Dorchester Gardenlands Preserve |
 Boston University |
 Bowdoin Street Community Health Center |
During the winter of 1998 EPA's EMPACT program funded "A Community Based Lead Assessment and Educational Pilot Project", also known as the Lead Safe Yard Project (LSYP). This project is a joint effort of the EPA New England Regional Laboratory and several community partners from the Boston metro area. The objective of the project was to demonstrate low cost/no-cost techniques that would reduce the exposure of preschool children to elevated levels of lead in residential soil, and to set up a template which other communities could use to address this persistent lead issue. The community partners included Boston University School of Public Health, the Bowdoin Street Community Health Center (BSHC), Garden Futures and Dorchester Gardenlands Preserve. The selected target community was the Bowdoin Street area in the North Dorchester section of Boston (census tract 915). There are roughly 150 homes in this target community.
The project team identified three primary tasks required for the demonstration component of the project. 1. Outreach and Education - to be led by the health center. 2. Sampling and Analysis - to be led by the EPA regional laboratory with assistance from the health center. 3. Soil Mitigation - to be performed by the two non-profit landscaping companies. A fourth task aimed at "developing the template for community action" and reaching out to other impacted communities was assigned to the Boston University partner but all of the partners would assist in this broad task.