Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance of Blood Lead Levels in Children

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), has made available cooperative agreement funding to support the prevention of childhood lead poisoning and the surveillance of blood lead levels in children. This program is grounded in the public health mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which works to improve the health and safety of the population through national leadership and targeted interventions. The program reflects longstanding CDC expertise in environmental health, specifically in addressing the risks of lead exposure among vulnerable children. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to strengthen both primary and secondary prevention strategies for childhood lead poisoning. This includes ensuring that children receive timely blood lead testing, improving surveillance systems that collect and analyze blood lead data, and enhancing the ability to connect children with elevated lead levels to appropriate services. Grantees are expected to focus their efforts on high-risk communities where children are most at risk for exposure and work collaboratively with other health, housing, and social service agencies to provide coordinated responses. The scope of allowable activities includes maintaining and enhancing state and local capacity to test and report blood lead levels, building or improving data systems for surveillance, implementing public health interventions to reduce lead exposure, and ensuring appropriate follow-up care and referrals for affected children. Awardees are encouraged to develop policies that support targeted, population-based strategies and ensure long-term sustainability. Funds are intended to support the public health infrastructure and cannot be used for unrelated programmatic costs outside the scope of childhood lead prevention. Eligibility for this funding is limited to state, county, city, and federally recognized tribal governments. This restriction aligns with the statutory authority under 42 U.S.C. Section 247b(k)(2). The program does not require matching funds, removing barriers for resource-limited jurisdictions. The cooperative agreement structure reflects the CDC’s intention to work closely with recipients, providing guidance and oversight while allowing local flexibility in implementation. Applications were submitted electronically by the deadlines noted in the notice, with the original closing date of April 25, 2021, later extended to November 9, 2021. Submissions required electronic entry by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. Applicants were required to prepare complete applications through Grants.gov, including program narratives and budgets, and ensure compliance with all federal eligibility and submission standards. No additional gating steps such as Letters of Intent were specified in the notice. The anticipated total funding available under this opportunity was $100,000,000, with an estimated 61 awards expected to be made. Award sizes ranged from $150,000 to $850,000. These funds are intended to support multi-year efforts, though exact periods of performance and notification timelines were not specified in the summary. As the program aligns with the CDC’s ongoing national focus on childhood lead prevention, it is part of a recurring federal effort, though application cycles will depend on congressional appropriations and agency priorities. This initiative represents one of the largest coordinated federal efforts to support state and local lead poisoning prevention and surveillance systems nationwide.

Applicants should demonstrate capacity for child lead exposure identification, referrals, and interagency collaboration.