Local Lead Action Plan Strategies for Success

This page contains links to recent case studies of local government officials in the mid-Atlantic region who took steps to reduce lead exposure in their communities using EPA’s Local Lead Action Plan (LLAP) Template. It also includes strategies for success to aid local government officials in developing their own local LLAP. This is intended to serve as a resource and is not a comprehensive list of potential strategies or an indication of any best or preferred method for LLAPs.

Case Studies

Below are case studies for how two cities developed and implemented their LLAPs, which government officials may find helpful as they develop and implement their own LLAPs.

Please note that both case studies contain links to lead action plans created using a pilot version of the LLAP Template, which has since been modified.
 

  • Case Study – Lynchburg, VA
    Learn about how the City of Lynchburg worked with EPA Region 3 to develop its LLAP, including creating maps to support its lead exposure prevention activities. The link to Lynchburg’s LLAP can be found in the case study.
  • Case Study – Reading, PA
    Learn about how partners and stakeholders in the City of Reading worked together to create a LLAP and build a community coalition to reduce lead exposure in the city. The link to Reading’s LLAP can be found in the case study.

Strategies for Developing a Successful Lead Action Plan

The LLAP is a voluntary and useful tool for local government officials to develop an action plan to address lead issues in their local area. If you are a local government official who wants to develop a lead action plan, you can use the following strategies to set your plan up for success upon its implementation:

Using Your Local Lead Action Plan as a Starting Point

As your local area develops its LLAP, remember that it is meant to be a starting point for your local area to address its lead issues. Think of it as an opportunity to find ways to collaborate, leverage opportunities, innovate, be flexible, and ensure continuity so that your local area accomplishes its short- and long-term goals while reducing its overall exposure to lead.

Be Collaborative

Although leadership in your local area may designate one person to oversee development of the LLAP, it is helpful to collaborate with officials in other departments or divisions of the local government. This will make the plan more effective and comprehensive by identifying additional ways to reduce lead exposure, involving various departments that will contribute to the plan, and building intergovernmental partnerships and coalitions.

Leverage Opportunities

Use your LLAP as leverage for identifying opportunities for existing local programs and funding opportunities to enable you to accomplish your short- and long-term goals for preventing lead exposure.

Be Innovative

Lead issues can be complicated and widespread. As you develop your LLAP, assess how you can incorporate new and innovative ideas to help your local area eliminate lead exposure. Consider the following questions:

  • Are there opportunities to explore related to lead awareness and safety?
  • Can a new idea be piloted before introducing it more widely?
  • Can we build upon or modify a program or initiative that already exists?
  • Can we establish or reestablish connections with another partner?
  • What is unique about our local area that we can use to our advantage?

Be Flexible

The LLAP is designed to be a flexible, living document that can be modified to address emerging concerns or new opportunities related to lead in your local area. Your plan should include realistic timeframes and goals that fit your local area’s needs and allow for incorporation of additional opportunities as they arise through new needs, partnerships, programs and funding resources.

Have Continuity

Creating a lead action plan is the first step towards eliminating lead exposure in your local area. Implementing your plan, starting the work outlined in your plan, and keeping this momentum going ensures its continuity and progress towards accomplishing the goals laid out in your plan. While developing your plan, evaluate ways for it to remain sustainable and for partners and stakeholders to get and stay involved. As you accomplish short-term goals and reach milestones for long-term goals, continue to add new objectives to build upon past successes and accomplish your long-term goals.

Raising Awareness and Engaging Partners and Stakeholders

Note: See Implementation Page for a detailed list of potential partners and stakeholders.
As you develop your LLAP, make sure to indicate how your local area plans to raise awareness of its activities and involve partners and stakeholders.

Training and Technical Assistance

There may be opportunities for free trainings or technical assistance that could help reach the goals outlined in your LLAP. Reach out to organizations addressing lead issues in your local area and ask if and how they would like to get involved. In addition to in-person trainings, look for webinar training sessions or virtual meetings for local government officials to become better informed about the lead issues impacting your area and potential solutions available. There may also be existing pre-recorded webinars or videos that can easily be shared across various platforms to amplify awareness of lead exposure, including resources from EPA.

Train-the-Trainer Opportunities

Host train-the-trainer sessions to teach local leaders and educators about reducing lead exposure so that they can share their knowledge when educating members of their communities and constituencies. EPA has many existing resources that can be used in these sessions, such as  the Lead Awareness in Indian Country: Keeping our Children Healthy! Curriculum, an excellent general lead education tool for communities that includes a pre-recorded webinar training for community leaders on using and modifying the curriculum.

There may also be opportunities to encourage and support entities - such as individual contractors, contracting firms, and local organizations - in becoming accredited to train and certify contractors in lead safety. For more information on becoming an accredited training provider, visit  RRP for Training Providers or Lead-Based Paint Activities Program for Training Providers.

Outreach Events

In-person or virtual outreach events, such as information fairs, panel discussions with relevant organizations, question and answer (Q&A) sessions, or other activities, can be a great way to raise awareness about lead among community members. Including free blood lead screening, soil testing, or other similar giveaways can incentivize participation and attendance for outreach events.

Target Audiences

There may be many different audiences interested and affected by lead in your local area. In your LLAP, make sure to include how you will use relevant messaging to reach specific audiences. Examples of these target audiences may include landlords, parents and other caregivers, healthcare professionals, contractors, childcare operators, schools and school boards, and community development organizations.

Provide Information

Many great resources (documents, webpages, videos, etc.) about lead are available for various audiences that contain useful information to share with those in your community. EPA offers free lead safety brochures and flyers to download. If a resource you need does not yet exist, consider creating it with your partners. A custom lead awareness campaign with logos, advertisements, and slogans unique to your area can personalize the initiative. An example of this is EPA’s outreach materials for National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW).

Speak to Audiences at Their Own Events

An ideal opportunity to educate a group may be at its own event or regularly scheduled meeting. Reaching out to relevant groups and organizations to request time on their agendas to discuss lead safety can help involve the community, raise awareness of lead exposure, and build coalitions.

Connect via Existing Communication Channels and Create a Communications Plan

Take advantage of existing methods of communication such as newsletters, websites, social media, magazines, journals, blogs, TV, radio, podcasts, press releases and newspapers to reach your audiences. This may provide an opportunity for local government officials to add information on lead to their existing websites or even create a new website for information on lead in their community. These ideas can be organized into a communications plan or strategy and can be listed as a priority action in the LLAP.

Mapping Lead Presence

Create maps to find areas within your community that may be more vulnerable to lead exposure. EPA has mapping information available for local government officials to identify priority areas for lead exposure prevention efforts at https://www.epa.gov/lead/mapping.

Identify and Fill Data Gaps

Refer to your answers in “Checklist 1 – Assessing Local Lead History and Data" to make a list of gaps in the data available for your local area. Data on air, water, soil, age of housing, blood lead levels, etc. may be available from a local, city, county, state, or federal office or agency. EPA can assist local government officials with finding this data, if available, or refer them to other agencies that may have the data they need.

Data that may be useful for mapping areas that are vulnerable to lead exposure include:

  • Pre-1978 homes;
  • Rental units;
  • Residences where renovations are occurring;
  • Facilities that emit lead;
  • Schools;
  • Day care facilities and child care facilities; and
  • Airports.

Share Maps to Build Coalitions

Maps are visual representations of data that may show a need for developing and implementing a LLAP to reduce lead exposure in certain areas of a community. It may be helpful to create local area-specific maps and share them with potential partners and stakeholders to communicate data, share updates, and build support and coalitions.

Exploring Additional Opportunities

As you develop your LLAP, consider how to incorporate additional opportunities for improvement. These may include updating or developing laws, ordinances, policies or codes; providing and receiving technical assistance or lead education; and developing collaborations and partnerships with stakeholders.

Process Improvement: Modify Existing Operating Procedures to Address Lead

Explore options to modify existing procedures to address lead issues. Prior to creating a new program or process, determine whether you can modify or update existing processes to achieve the same goal.

  • Example: Residential Building Permit Process
    Adding an additional question on your local area’s building permit application may add to the success of your LLAP and reduce lead exposure in the area. By asking permit applicants to confirm that contractors performing work on pre-1978 residential properties are lead-safe certified, local government officials can be confident that contractors performing work in their area are trained to perform lead-safe renovations and repairs. If a contractor does not have this certification, the question may make the contractor aware of the need to obtain lead-safe certification prior to performing the work in order to comply with EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule. Local government officials and property managers can refer contractors to EPA resources to help ensure their compliance with the RRP rule.

Update Existing Local Laws, Ordinances, Policies or Codes to Address Lead

Explore options to update existing local laws, ordinances, policies or codes for the lead issue you intend to address. If these updates cannot be made at the local level, consider advocating to extend this activity to the county or state level.

  • Example: Childcare or Daycare Licensing Codes
    Updates for childcare or daycare licensing codes can include lead exposure prevention. When making these updates, think broadly since this can change operating procedures and processes. For example, if updating licensing applications to include questions pertaining to the presence of lead, lead safety during renovations, and inspectors and enforcement staff enforcing lead-related codes, evaluate whether one update could include all considerations.
  • Other codes that may relate to lead exposure include those that address building and construction, demolition, schools, property maintenance, housing, and rentals. If a code cannot be updated to address lead exposure at the local level, explore the possibility of modifying these procedures and processes rather than codifying them.

Develop New Local Laws, Ordinances, Policies, or Codes to Address Lead

Explore options to create new local laws, ordinances, policies, or codes to enable local government officials to address the lead issue of concern in your lead action plan. A local lead law may supplement existing federal, state or other local laws. If a law addressing the issue already exists but has not been implemented, consider working with its regulating agency to identify solutions to get the law implemented.

  • Example: Rental Property Lead Certification Laws
    Local areas and states may implement laws for additional lead safety requirements for rental properties. For example, these laws may require that landlords provide renters with documentation that residences are certified as lead-safe or lead-free prior to renter occupancy.
  • Other laws that can be improved or implemented to address lead include child blood lead testing laws and lead inspection laws.

Provide and Receive Technical Assistance

Technical assistance can be part of an activity to address lead or be an activity by itself. Communication about lead in your local area may differ depending on your target audience. Some audiences may benefit from learning general information about lead, while others, such as groups that must adhere to specific regulations, may benefit from receiving technical assistance in understanding the regulations with which they must comply. It is also beneficial for local government officials to understand lead laws and regulations so they can assist their constituents and refer violations to enforcement agencies. Explore organizations or government agencies that can provide free technical assistance or training in lead safety to your community.

  • Example: RRP Awareness Training for City Inspectors
    Reducing unsafe renovations within a community through informational training can reduce childhood exposure to lead. Recently, EPA Region 3 partnered with the City of Philadelphia to provide a free informational training session to explain EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule to the city’s inspectors. EPA explained the rule’s requirements for contractors, how to recognize unsafe renovations and how to report a potential violation of the RRP rule to EPA, https://www.epa.gov/tips.
  • The following are other ways technical assistance can be used to reduce lead exposure within a community:
    • Add lead technical assistance information and/or links to existing webpages.
    • Add lead safety information to websites and email newsletters.
    • Schedule time to provide lead technical assistance or lead safety Q&A sessions to groups or organizations at their regular meetings. Consider professional groups and organizations for occupations that involve lead (https://www.epa.gov/lead/protect-your-family-sources-lead#jobs) or lead regulations.
    • Work with partners to identify opportunities to provide trainings to local area officials.

Provide and Receive Education on Lead

Education for general public or specific audiences may be an effective activity or part of an activity to include in your LLAP. Lead education and awareness can provide people with the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe from lead. Increasing consumer awareness of lead, the RRP program, and the requirement that contractors working on pre-1978 homes are lead-safe certified can also build the demand for lead regulation compliance among regulated entities.

  • Potential lead education and awareness activities to incorporate into your action plan include:
    • Publishing information and links on websites;
    • Posts on social media (Facebook, X, Instagram, etc.);
    • Send mailings or e-mails to partners and stakeholders;
    • Display posters, flyers, or brochures in community spaces;
    • Set up in-person information tables at community events;
    • Host informational meetings with community organizations;
    • Provide scheduled time at community meetings;
    • Purchase advertisements in local newspapers;
    • Observe National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week in October;
    • Share lead education events with partner agencies such as the EPA; and
    • Create lead awareness campaigns with unique logos, slogans, or other personalization to the local area.

Form Collaborations, Partnerships and Coalitions

Because lead is found in all parts of our environment, including our air, soil and water, creating and maintaining partnerships with other individuals, organizations and agencies is an important component of a successful LLAP. Collaboration to leverage resources and share ideas can yield benefits to all involved and increase success in achieving the short- and long-term goals laid out in your action plan.

  • Example: Ongoing Partnership and Collaboration
    The City of Lancaster, Pa. partnered with its regional EPA office, EPA Region 3, to explore opportunities to reduce lead exposure through its local lead ordinance. The City of Lancaster became EPA-accredited as a training provider to train and certify local contractors in lead-safe work practices to comply with EPA’s RRP rule. EPA inspectors met with city inspectors to share how to identify potential RRP rule violations and report them to EPA. The Lead-Safe Lancaster Initiative continued to grow as the city partnered with state agencies, local hospitals, local universities, lead coalitions and non-profit organizations to advance its branding, lead research and lead abatement work. EPA Region 3 continues to partner with the City of Lancaster to help reduce local lead exposure.
  • The following are ways to build collaborations, partnerships, and coalitions to reduce lead exposure in a community:
    • Reach out to neighboring local areas for insight and collaboration;
    • Identify agencies, organizations, and coalitions with shared goals, then having meetings to discuss opportunities for collaboration;
    • Maintain relationships and partnerships through regular meetings;
    • Build referral networks with different agencies and organizations for continued partnership on issues pertaining to lead; and
    • Review the Implementation section of the LLAP Guide for ideas on potential partners and stakeholders to involve.

Celebrate and Inspire

As your local area completes priority actions toward the goals described in your LLAP, how do you want to share and celebrate these efforts? By keeping the hard work visible, you can build interest and momentum in reducing lead exposure. Stories of success inspire others to pursue similar initiatives and get involved. Inspiration and enthusiasm can be the spark to overcome challenges and daunting tasks.

  • Example: City of Huntington as Keynote Speaker

Mayor Steven Williams of the City of Huntington, W.Va. was a keynote speaker at the EPA Region 3's 2019 Mid-Atlantic Lead Forum. The mayor’s enthusiasm and passion to overcome local lead challenges and make visible differences in his community energized the audience at the forum.

  • The following are other ways to celebrate and inspire while implementing a LLAP include:
    • Observe National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW) every year at the end of October;
    • Share updates, accomplishments, and events through newsletters and on social media;
    • Develop metrics for your goals and monitor them to know when milestones are reached;
    • Keep your lead action plan, checklists, and associated records as reference for accomplishments over time; and
    • Share accomplishments, even small ones, with your partners, stakeholders, and community.

Local Lead Action Plan (LLAP) Guide

If you are a local government official who wants to develop an action plan to address lead issues in your local area, the following resources are for you:

Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Last updated on June 27, 2024