Community impact grants support innovative approaches to lead reduction in South Bend

February 18, 2022

A 2017 Reuters report found higher lead levels in some South Bend neighborhoods than Flint, MI, prompting Notre Dame faculty to partner with local neighborhood organizations to put research on safe housing into action. With a Community Impact Grant from the Institute for Social Concerns, Dr. Heidi Beidinger, associate professor of the practice, Biological Sciences, says the Lead Innovation Team (ND-LIT) conducted research that “laid the groundwork to make meaningful changes in programming and policy here in our community.” Dr. Marya Lierberman, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and ND-LIT have since coordinated with community partners to screen homes for lead hazards and remediate highly leaded soil. Enlisting students as researchers and educators, they launched Mulch Madness, an event offering free mulch while testing soil for lead and educating residents on mitigating childhood exposure that can cause neurodevelopmental delays. 

With support from Mike Coman, President of the Monroe Park Neighborhood Association, and senior Neuroscience and Behavior major Kyle Moon, students canvassed 105 homes and recruited 41 homes to participate. Soil samples were obtained at participating homes prior to mulching, and follow-up samples have shown that mulching effectively reduced soil lead below hazardous levels, requiring no further intervention. 

But the community wants more education about available resources for remediation. The City has a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to support lead remediation and abatement for income-eligible households with children six and under, but funding is underused due to lack of knowledge of the grant and/or challenges navigating the application process. The City recently contracted a consulting firm to make the grant application more user-friendly. ND-LIT aims to expand upon these insights with an additional Community Impact Grant titled “Mulch Madness and More: Formation of a Community-Based Participatory Research Network to Remediate Environmental Lead Hazards in South Bend, Indiana.” 

In partnership with the City, this grant will enable ND-LIT to evaluate the Lead Hazard Reduction Grant program by identifying best practices for reaching households and maximizing application submission and success; illuminating barriers and facilitators to these processes; and providing recommendations to the City to streamline the application. ND-LIT will conduct focus groups with community members and interviews with officials from other organizations who received similar HUD funding to learn about challenges and share best practices for South Bend. 

This Community Impact Grant allows researchers and partners to pilot an intervention to increase the number of households receiving funding with application counselors, who will be trained by City officials and meet individuals in the community to help navigate the process. This collaboration between ND-LIT and the City allows students to engage in independent research and community-engaged program evaluation that could lead to a faculty-led senior thesis or capstone, while generating knowledge that increases home safety in South Bend and reduces childhood lead poisoning. 

For more information about Community Impact Grants, contact Connie Mick at cmick@nd.edu. For more information on ND-LIT work, contact Heidi Beidiner at hbeiding@nd.edu or Marya Lieberman at mlieberm@nd.edu.