Out With Milwaukee Foundation help, a neighborhood cuts its lead poisoning rate in half. Lead poisoning strikes 4 percent of America's children, on average. So when a study in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood found unsafe lead levels among a third of its preschool-age children, the Milwaukee Foundation jumped in to help.
Children show no symptoms of lead poisoning until irreversible brain damage has occurred.
With the foundation funding, lead poisoning blood tests were conducted in 6,000 homes, and 2,000 children were found with unsafe lead levels. Treatments ranged from simple interventions, such as showing parents how to reduce the child's contact with lead, to complete removal of all lead-based paints. Catherine Sebold is media relations coordinator at the Council on Foundations. The Council maintains an ongoing Great Grants project to showcase grants that demonstrate how philanthropy makes a difference.