PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Trump administration’s freeze on grants for environmental justice could harm the health of children in the Lower Northeast, according to Philadelphia nonprofits that have lost funding.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health says 2,000 Philadelphia children have elevated lead levels. The risk is especially high in Kensington and the River Wards because of its industrial past.
Among the $1 billion in local grants halted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is half a million dollars to help prevent lead poisoning in those neighborhoods, where it remains a problem.
The Clean Water Fund would have overseen the grant. Director Maurice Sampson said it would have provided outreach and training to residents of Kensington and the River Wards.
“Lead is not like a snake that bites you,” he said. “It’s more like a hot stove that you’d touch without knowing it’s hot. If you know where the lead is, then you can avoid being poisoned. Our whole pitch and program was based on providing that information.”
The Kensington Corridor Trust is one of the community organizations that would have taught residents how to avoid ingesting lead. Spokesperson Jasmin Velez said it was a needed service.
“When you’re looking at a neighborhood like Kensington, which has been so disinvested in for decades, this is how things change,” she said.
An EPA worker who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation said lead is most dangerous to pregnant women and children under 6, so they will be most impacted by the funding cut.
The Clean Water Fund grant is just one of hundreds eliminated by the Trump administration. The city lost $1 million to mitigate flooding in Eastwick, and another project to reconnect Chinatown by capping Vine Street lost $150 million. Both projects also sought to correct harms done by past practices.
Sampson hopes the funding reversals are temporary.
“I like to think that when rationality returns to government that they’ll restore those grants,” he said.