Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning

I hope everyone is on the distribution list for the Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning (an incredible organization operating within Monroe County). If you’re not already signed up, go to theleadcoalition.org and scroll down to the footer for NEWSLETTER SIGNUP.

Anyway, in their most recent newsletter the Coalition did an exemplary job of contextualizing data:

“Monroe County recently released the number of children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels in 2023 (read the press release here). Unfortunately, 241 children had elevated blood lead levels which is an increase of 100 individuals from 2022. There may be several explanations for the increase, including a continued rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic during which many families skipped routine doctor’s visits and a 6% increase in overall testing. 2023’s numbers will not discourage the Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning and our partners. We will continue our efforts to eliminate lead poisoning, because every kid in Monroe County deserves to be safe from lead!” ~ Newsletter 11/15/2024

The Coalition reported the increase in children with elevated blood levels, sharing necessary information without fear and with a firm grasp on possible explanations. This newsletter is a brilliant example of embracing facts and communicating data in context (one of ACT’s 4 Cs!).

May we all approach data with an eye toward improvement, without fear, and with an understanding of the bigger picture!

UPDATE: Esteemed colleague and fellow RACF Initiative Director Elizabeth McDade sent along a study that highlights the extraordinary work of the Coalition. The research highlights incredible achievements in Monroe County, “Notably, this study found that in Monroe County, the absolute rate of decline in childhood lead poisoning…occurred much faster than those in the U.S. and New York State” (Kennedy et al., 2014, p.2620)

Source: Kennedy, B. S., Doniger, A. S., Painting, S., Houston, L., Slaunwhite, M., Mirabella, F., ... & Stich, E. (2014). Declines in elevated blood lead levels among children, 1997− 2011. American journal of preventive medicine, 46(3), 259-264.

RENEW Website!

We’re thrilled to share that RENEW has officially launched their website! This site is a useful tool to learn more about the importance of energy-efficiency and other environmental justice efforts in our region. Rochester ENergy Efficiency and Weatherization (RENEW) works with community partners to help make the homes of income-eligible residents more energy-efficient, healthier, and safer. They’re proud to have been doing this work for 9 years, and celebrated with an anniversary party in August, where this site was first previewed by longtime friends and partners in the work.

The website features a comprehensive list of community partners, client stories, photos, and more. Try using the Carbon Offset Calculator to calculate your total carbon emissions and the amount to donate to “offset” your footprint to the RENEW Climate Fund. This tool will help support our neighbors, and all contributions will stay local to help clean the air we all breathe.

We love to lift up the work of our fellow initiatives at the Community Foundation and invite you to explore this new website at your leisure!

Here’s a bit of a scavenger hunt to get you started: which award did RENEW win in July 2024?  

Curated Book on Urban Design

A close friend lent me the book Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery after a lengthy policy conversation. He told me I needed to read it; he was right. You should read it, too!

Note that Happy City is not written by social scientists so the objective of the book is not to prove or disprove a hypothesis. I loved and recommend Happy City because it is an exercise in out-of-the-box thinking. It is a catalyst for innovative problem-solving. It provides case studies of cities across the world, told as stories, and patched together for a wholistic and human-centered approach to the complex challenges of urban areas. Happy City highlights the successes of Vancouver, Canada, Bogota, Colombia, Siena, Italy, and Paris, France, and it uses history and exceptional scholarship to make arguments about what makes a city great and how to improve the quality of life for all city residents.

“And what are our needs for happiness?... We need to walk, just as birds need to fly. We need to be around other people. We need beauty. We need contact with nature. And most of all, we need not to be excluded. We need to feel some sort of equality." (pg. 6)

Montgomery introduces concepts like challenged thriving (pg. 37), the relationship between happiness, economists, and urban design, unintended negative consequences of urban sprawl (beyond the damage to the environment!), and on page 111 Montgomery references a relevant psychological study at the University of Rochester. 

We spend so much time reading about the challenges of the City of Rochester and perhaps you find yourselves talking about those challenges in your networks. Consider reading Happy City to catalyze more creative thought about what urban transformation could look like.

Consider Happy City for your brain food - it's high quality nutrition for healthy thought! 

Source: Montgomery, C. (2013). Happy city: Transforming our lives through urban design. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.

Curated Chapters: Chapter 3 and Chapter 9 in Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America

One of the charges for Poverty Abolitionists in Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America is his argument about the inequities of the US banking system. In Chapter 3, Desmond calls out banking. If you have not read the full book yet, I recommend flagging pages 71 to 79. Desmond’s argument is that the poor are trapped in a cycle of debt. From fee structures (think overdraft fees) to overt racial discrimination in banking practices to even banking hours kept, the system is not designed for the poor. Pile on the credit system and qualifying for loans and it’s an uphill battle, to say the very least. So, how can we work toward a more equitable banking system? 

Chapter 9 highlights zoning laws as key vehicles for exclusion and a key component of structural inequality. Desmond argues for a diversity of voices in the zoning conversations, where decisions about community development are made by a group that better reflects the community. If we can move toward more inclusive zoning policy, we would move toward setting a norm of inclusivity. 

The City of Rochester is updating its zoning code, see Rochester Zoning Alignment Project to learn more.