Experts weigh in: Are better lead testing and abatement efforts the key to prevent poisoning in Cleveland children?
The Land: Robert Fischer, the Grace Longwell Coyle Professor in Civil Society and director of the Center on Poverty and Community Development at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, emphasized poverty’s role in Cleveland’s lead crisis, citing aging housing, absentee landlords and financial struggles. “A third of our owners are below median income,” he said, adding that neglect in rental-heavy areas leads to “hot zones of lead poisonings,” disproportionately affecting poor communities.
