2024 has been a year of progress in Cleveland's battle with Childhood Lead poisoning.

• Residents First legislation has strengthened the Department of Building and Housing's (ability to enforce the existing lead laws. Will the City be able to coordinate home testing, child testing and financial assistance programs? CLASH will monitor and challenge.

• The collapse of the existing Lead Safe Certificate Program had forced a new Lead Safety protocol with by requiring a more stringent lead risk assessment. Now the challenge is to make the new system work. CLASH will be monitoring the Lead Safe Advisory Board and working with the Mayor and City Council to hold these department accountable. The time for "retooling" is over.

• The Cleveland Department of Public Health has awakened to the reality that too few of Cleveland's children being screened for lead exposure. Action is required! The level of child lead testing has dropped steadily since 2016 while the "experts" have wished for a post-Pandemic uptick. CLASH is working with a range of organizations to create mobile testing in neighborhoods and on weekends. CLASH will continue to push for mandatory child and mom testing in the WIC program. In 2025, CLASH will work for enacting a Universal Child Testing requirement, so no one slips through the cracks in the current system.
• HUD has  found the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) to be negligent in implementing Federal Guidelines on lead safety. CLASH has been invited by CMHA management and residents to help them expand unit testing, child testing, and lead safety awareness among staff and residents in 2025.

For CLASH, Everyday is Giving Tuesday.

That's because the CLASH board and advocates are all volunteers...every day.

Our volunteers' efforts to increase public awareness, support citizen activism, advocate for  lead safe practices, and institutionalize governance by legislation and policy are all part of our mission.

Your donation helps our volunteers make a difference all year long

But don't take our word for it. Vox writes Want to help save the most lives possible? "Lead poisoning has, historically, been a major blind spot in the global health world. The extent of the problem is enormous: A landmark study found that about half of children in poor countries are exposed to very high levels of lead. At least 1.5 million people die annually from cardiovascular diseases (like heart disease) caused by lead poisoning, imposing a global economic cost of about $6 trillion a year. But the resources devoted to preventing lead poisoning were minimal. One estimate in 2021 found that charities and nongovernmental organizations were spending between $6 and 10 million a year on the problem. That’s less than two cents per child poisoned by lead."

OK so CLASH is not trying to save the world, but we have and will make a difference in Ohio's Lead Belt. 

With your financial support, CLASH will be there to educate, advocate and agitate for lead safety.  We're all volunteers!  And our low overhead means we have high independence from the forces that would take baby steps in an effort to maintain the status quo. With your support CLASH will continue our \struggle to make Cleveland Lead Safe. 

Thank you for your support