Lead Free MV To Provide Comprehensive Home Interventions

Partners with the Lead-Free Mohawk Valley Coalition have signed a compact with the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative.

The compact establishes Utica and Oneida County as one of 26 designated GHHI sites in the nation.

Alicia Dicks, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, says the compact will provide comprehensive home interventions that address health, safety, lead hazards. energy efficiency and weatherization concerns in eligible housing.

"The GHHI platform is helping local communities across the country deliver integrated and coordinated health and housing services to low-income families that more efficiently and cost-effectively implements local and federally funded programs,” said Ruth Ann Norton, president and CEO of GHHI. "Using the GHHI model, children are healthier, families have safer and more energy efficient homes—and lower utility bills—and medical costs decline due to fewer housing-related health issues."

The creation of GHHI Utica-Oneida County comes after six months of collaboration among Green and Healthy Homes and Lead-Free MV partners.

Entities that took part in the compact signing ceremony include the City of Utica, Oneida County, the Oneida County Health Department, Lead-Free Mohawk Valley, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency, the Home Ownership Center, the Community Foundation and GHHI.