On December 29, 2018 the Schubert Center, and many of our partners, submitted testimony to the Ohio Department of Developmental Disability (DoDD) on proposed new rules concerning early intervention programs. We recommended that language be added to existing rules to provide children with confirmed elevated blood lead levels automatic eligibility for the Early Intervention program. Because children are especially vulnerable to the effects of lead toxicity and can suffer profound life-long damage, our Center has an interest in reducing childhood exposure to lead as well as supporting policies that advance best practices for well-being of children and families. Read the full testimony.
The testimony is referred to in Cleveland.com article, “High-quality pre-k does not prepare most lead-poisoned children for kindergarten.”
Below is a list of the partners who signed this testimony with us:
- Patricia Barnes, Executive Director, Ohio Healthy Homes Network
- Gloria Blevins, President, Black Child Development Institute-Cleveland Affiliate
- Graham Bowman, Ohio Poverty Law Center
- Robert Cole, Senior Attorney, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. and Toledo Lead Poisoning Prevention Coalition
- Erin Davies, Executive Director, Ohio Juvenile Justice Coalition
- Dorr Dearborn, PhD, MD, Mary Ann Swetland Professor Emeritus, Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Case Western Reserve University
- Robert L. Fischer, PhD, Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, and Associate Professor, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University
- Kim Foreman, Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch
- Yvonka Hall, Executive Director, Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition
- Elizabeth Jones, President, National Coalition 100 Black Women Inc. Greater Cleveland Chapter
- Lolita M. McDavid, MD, MPA, Medical Director of Child Advocacy and Protection at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, University Hospitals of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
- Tracy Najera, PhD, MPA, Executive Director, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio
- Sarah D. Ronis, MD, MPH. Interim Director, Center for Child Health and Policy, UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital
- Elizabeth J. Short, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Director of Experimental Training, Co-Director of Childhood Studies, Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University
- Abigail C. Staudt, Managing Attorney, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland