Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action

• The Growing Healthy Soil for Healthy Communities project seeks to explore the relationship between urban backyard gardening and lead exposure risk in children and families.

• The project partners are committed to a long-term goal of promoting safe backyard gardening as a transformational community development strategy.

• Lead exposure is a serious health threat for children.

• Soil is an important exposure pathway, primarily because hand-to-mouth activity results in swallowing lead contaminated soil, and also because small particles of contaminated soil are inhaled.

• Urban agriculture is increasing.

• Potential environmental health risks associated residential gardening may not be well-known to community residents.

• Concern about lead exposure from backyard gardening varied between adults in two urban neighborhoods.

• Children under age 6 years old were actively involved in backyard gardening.

• Certain areas of the yard (e.g., dripline) had higher levels of lead concentration than other areas (e.g., lawn).

• Native soil had higher lead concentration than soil and compost purchased from stores.

• Urban backyard gardeners may consider testing soil before gardening to minimize lead exposure risk for children.

• Community-based organizations may consider implementing programs that include safe gardening education, providing access to soil testing resources and encouraging neighbors’ engagement in policy discussions related to urban agriculture.

• Soil test reports should begin to include specific information regarding minimizing contaminant exposure.

• Testing of landscape interventions that will reduce soil lead concentration in urban neighborhoods should be undertaken. [End Page 1]