Thursday April 17. Darrick and Spencer at the Scranton Castle Health Fair. Provided information about lead safety. Read more about CLASH's Lead Awareness Program. 

July 25, 2024. Ideastream. Lead safety advocates react to audit that found CMHA failed to report lead poisoning in children. "On Thursday's "Sound of Ideas," we're going to start by talking more about this report with our health reporter, Taylor Wizner, who has been covering these developments. We're also joined by two leaders with CLASH, which stands for Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing, which is an all-volunteer coalition of 10 community organizations in the region."

NEOCH Housing Justice Summit Saturday June 8th, 2024. NEOCH's Housing Justice Summit. Saturday's weather was great, the turnout out respectable, and the speakers were enlightening. CLASH got 3 signups and moved a lot of literature from the registration table. Unfortunately our planned workshop never materialized since much of the crowd had melted away in the heat of the afternoon. Here's what we would have suggested for activists looking to get started on lead safety.

CLASH participated in the Cuyahoga County Conference on Social Work (CCCoSW) by tabling information for participants and sponsoring a workshop on Lead and Crime...which featured our old friend Dr. Maria Jose Talayero Schettino, from George Washington University, who participated via Zoom. Participation was disappointing but being able to talk directly to social work professionals about lead safety is a valuable opportunity.

Salvation Army-East Cleveland Branch November 29, 2023: CLASH participated in a food/medical event sponsored by FoodStrong/CareStrong. Because of the first big snow of the season, the turn out was light. CLASH talked to about 4 tenants, but got acquainted with students from CWRU's Patient Assistant programs and FoodStrong staffers. Future collaborations are planned. Meanwhile Salvation Army circulated 4 copies of EPA's Protect your family... brochures from CLASH's static display box in the lobby.

Andre and Chantal took over tabling duties at the 14th Annual African American Women's Wellness Walk, sponsored by CLASH member organization Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition.

Famicos Health and Digital Expo. June 9, 2023

Eleven Glenville residents stopped by the CLASH tent on Friday at Famicos' Health and Digital Expo. Eight attendees took literature on lead safety and five signed up for this Stay in Touch newsletter. In addition, CLASH volunteers made contact with representatives from NEON and Medworks to set up future events. 

Black Child Development Institute Lead Exposure Listening Session, 10.30-11.30 Saturday April 22nd at the newly renovated Hough Library. 6530 Lexington Avenue. Share your experiences, ask questions and get information.

University Heights Fall Fest October 2, 2022. Noon to 5PM at Stinson Park. Lila and Chantal worked a decidedly professional crowd in University Heights. 

NEOBHC Fall Fest October 1st

On October 1st, CLASH joined the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition for a Autumn Health and Wellness Fest. Andre shared lead safety information at the CLASH Table.

 September 24, 2020: CLASH Team Picnic

Special thanks to Andre at the grill, Molly in the kitchen, Raconteur Darrick, Special Guests: Judge Wanda Jones, Chris Ronayne, Rachel Dissell. And our hostess, Yvonka Hall.

Tabling in August 2022

Friday, August 5, 2022. 2PM-6.30PM. University Settlement. 4939 Broadway Avenue. Molly and spencer covered the Back to School event on Broadway sponsored by the University Settlement. We were busy for an hour and a half--lots of interested parents and children, but then the storm rolled in!

Thursday, August 4, 2022. 6PM-8PM. Summer Trick or Treat. Harvard Community Service Center, 18240 Harvard. Andre and spencer covered the back to school event at Harvard Community Services on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who signed up for the "stay in touch" email newsletter.

​What's News!

Saturday, June 30th, Lila covered the Health Fair at Maple Heights Library on. Many public officials stopped to talk about the feedback they are getting from Maple Heights residents. Looks like CLASH will be setting up follow up events around lead safety education and engagement.

Andre and Spencer provided information on lead safe housing at the Famicos at McDonalds Resource Fair on Thursday, July 21, 2022. Thanks to Famicos for producing an exciting event. The wind from the lake made the hot temperatures bearable. The mood on the 17 visitors to our booth was curious and experienced! Most took literature on lead safe housing. 

Cleveland father supports tougher lead legislation for public housing after son died in 2007

Thanks to WEWS for their on-going coverage of lead issues in Cleveland.

Press Release

February 10, 2022   For Immediate release

Judge Scott is Right! Housing Court Should Enforce the Lead Safe Certificate Law

CLASH supports Judge Moná Scott’s right to require landlords to show compliance with Cleveland’s Lead Safe Certificate law before they are eligible to bring an eviction action. A recent court case brought against the Judge claims that she does not have the authority to enforce the Lead Safe Certificate Law, passed in 2019. (alternate source here,)

By taking the initiative to require lead safe compliance, Housing Court Judge Scott has shown that she understands that there is no such thing as voluntary compliance without some strict enforcement. The failure of the 2005 ordinance creating a Lead Safe Registry is a dramatic example of the failure of voluntary compliance. No one ever signed up! At risk Cleveland households should not have been forced to wait in vain for lead safe housing. 

While many landlords have shown themselves willing to obey the law in the interest of their tenants, many others are waiting to see what will happen if they do nothing. Some clear examples of consequences for landlords who have not complied will move many who are on the fence to comply with the law. The cost of making a rental property lead safe is negligible and assistance is available. Making rental homes is not just altruism. If a child is poisoned in a rental property, the owner may be compelled to pay thousands of dollars for a full scale lead abatement.

It’s ironic that no one actively opposed a similar court rule created by former Housing Court Judge Ron O’Leary. That rule required landlords to register their property with the City’s Rental Registration Program before bringing an eviction. Back then, landlords were pretty confident that there were very limited inspection requirements connected with the rental registry.

One of the most powerful impacts of compliance with lead safe certification will be to close a loophole in the Federal and City lead disclosure laws. For two decades, owners of pre-1978 rental properties could honestly say that they had “no knowledge” of lead hazards because they were never inspected. The passage of the Lead Safe Certification Ordinance closed that loophole. Once certified, an owner can’t tell prospective tenants that he or she doesn’t know about lead hazards or fail to reveal what steps were taken to remediate those hazards. 

Judge Scott’s initiative is civic heroism, but Judge Scott shouldn’t be the only Cleveland official who is enforcing the Lead Safe Certificate Ordinance. CLASH is advocating that Mayor Bibb’s Lead Czar (see page 40) will work with the Directors of Building and Housing and the Law Department create a procedure for bringing charges against egregiously non-compliant property owners. Further, the Department of Building and Housing must resume lead testing (including dust wipes) as a part of Rental Registration inspections and inspections triggered by tenant complaints. 

For more information contact Yvonka M. Hall, President

Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing (CLASH)

Phone or Text: 216-802-8101

Email: neobhc@gmail.com

Oct 11, 2021. Cleveland Scene. Winners and Losers in the Cleveland Mayoral Debate: Bibb Kicks Kelley's Ass. "...Bibb's strongest moment came in the discussion of the lead paint crisis. Bibb celebrated the work of CLASH activists and said it was a shame it took their efforts to finally force city government's hand on lead. He said he wants to beef up housing code enforcement to ensure landlord compliance, appoint a lead czar in his administration and spend ARPA dollars to establish an endowment to fully eradicate lead poisoning in Cleveland. Ambitious? Sure. But Kelley took exception to Bibb's plan to ;beef up' code enforcement — this was another buzzword, presumably — and talked about the challenges of recruiting employees in the building and housing department. Though he did say the city can't make excuses, he said the lead safe Cleveland initiative had been stalled by the pan

 City Council Comment October 1, 2021

Thanks to Yvonka, Darrick and Mario who testified at the VERY FIRST Citizen Comment period at City Hall. Focus of testimony was using American Rescue Plan funding for expanding child lead testing in Cleveland. The remarks were well received with applause from the other citizens. Erika and Spencer sat in the audience and were supportive. Sitting in the audience TJ summed it up this way: "I streamed your public comment last night. I'm so proud of you. Yall killed it! In solidarity." Cleveland City Council allows public comments at meeting for first time in a century.

CWRU Know Your Neighbor