A community nonprofit that鈥檚 rehabilitating blighted sites in Springfield is working with faculty and students from Wittenberg University to test for lead levels in the soil. redevelops rundown and vacant lots across southwest Ohio to create pocket parks.
The non-profit was launched in 2015 by Wittenberg University graduates Karlos L. Marshall and Moses B. Mbeseha. Their primary objective is to eradicate . Originally, Marshall and Mbeseha set up literacy stations at barber shops, beauty salons and other small businesses to try to get books into the hands of children who lived in the community. The founding initiative was called
The pocket parks initiative takes the organization's mission a step further. On the redeveloped lots, they build free outdoor libraries with culturally relevant books. Kids can take the books home or read them right there in the pocket park. Around the libraries, there are benches, bike racks, disc golf baskets, and basketball courts.
The non-profit would like to have community gardens that grow food on the lots someday. But many of the redeveloped lots either used to have, or are next to, homes with lead paint. Adam Brown is a Wittenberg alumnus and the board treasurer at The Conscious Connect. He also runs a clinical . He said testing for lead at the Children's Equity Zones was all about assurance.
鈥淪ince kids interact with these spaces a lot, we wanted to make sure that we understand what spaces are safe if they dig in the dirt or something," he said. "Also, in terms of gardens, if we ever get to that point, we want to make sure that we鈥檙e not creating a harmful situation for the community.鈥�
Dr. Sarah Fortner, formerly of Wittenberg University and now with the , tested the soil for lead in the fall with her Research Methods class. .
Brown says the results showed that there were high levels of lead in the soil at some of the locations tested鈥攊ncluding levels that exceed safe gardening limits. He says the results of the testing will help inform the non-profit as they decide how to transform the spaces in the future.
Environmental reporter Chris Welter is a corps member with , a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
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