Baldwin to direct Healthy Kids lead-hazard initiative

PAWTUCKET – Barbara Baldwin has been named as program coordinator for the Healthy Kids Collaborative, R.I. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch and the Children’s Health Forum announced today.
Also today, the collaborative – a statewide initiative of the CHF, Lynch and the Attorney General’s Advisory Commission on Lead Paint – announced a request for proposals (RFP) for education and outreach initiatives in Rhode Island. A total of $2 million in financing is available to community based organizations seeking to provide lead-poisoning prevention training to homeowners, parents and others.
“I’m very pleased to have Barbara Baldwin – with her extensive background in public health and organizational management – joining us to work with the advisory commission to make our mutual goal of preventing childhood lead poisoning a reality,” Lynch said in a statement.
“Barbara’s professional qualifications, leadership abilities, and knowledge of our various communities make her ideally suited to coordinate our efforts on many fronts to ensure that our children grow and thrive in lead-safe environments,”
Baldwin, a Providence resident, most recently served as coalition manager for the R.I. Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, establishing the statewide Partnership to Reduce Cancer in Rhode Island and helping to complete the coalition’s cancer-reduction plan. Previously, from 1987 to 1996, she had served as director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island.
Healthy Kids is developing a $9 million, multi-year program that is to include lead-safety education, outreach, training, remediation and enforcement. The model program – part of an agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and DuPont Corp. – is being designed in cooperation with local health advocates, care providers and state and municipal agencies.
Baldwin, who reports to Lynch and the CHF, also will be meeting with stakeholders and gathering input on the program.
“The Healthy Kids Collaborative will focus on eliminating childhood lead poisoning by educating parents, property owners, and the medical community about lead safety,” Baldwin said.

“HKC will make 600 homes lead safe in communities with the greatest needs. It also will increase the capacity of our communities to enforce existing lead laws. I am looking forward to helping lead this effort to protect Rhode Island families from lead hazards.”
The Healthy Kids Collaborative – based at 249 Roosevelt Ave., Suite 201, in Pawtucket – is a joint effort of the nonprofit Children’s Health Forum (www.chf4kids.org/) and the R.I. Office of the Attorney General (www.riag.state.ri.us). For more information about the collaborative and its recent request for proposals, call HKC at 305-3016 or visit www.chf4kids.org/healthy-kids-collaborative.

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