
PROVIDENCE – Woonsocket has received a $4 million federal grant for lead abatement, Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., announced Thursday along with Rep. David N. Cicciline, D-R.I., and Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.
The grant will allow Woonsocket to partner with two nonprofits, Childhood Lead Action Project and the Community Action Agency of Providence, to fund lead-remediation efforts for homeowners and renters. The funds come from the Lead Based Paint Hazard Control grant overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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The city already received a $1 million grant to address lead paint in public housing earlier this year.
“The safest place for any child should be in their own home,” said Whitehouse in a statement. “This federal funding will allow Woonsocket residents to eliminate the lead hazards present in some older houses so that kids can grow up lead-free and healthy.”
The announcement also comes on the heels of the announcement of $8.4 million in federal funds allocated to the state to address lead paint hazards.
HUD found that 70% of lead poisoning cases in the United States are the result of exposure to lead-based paint hazards in the home, typically in homes built before 1978.