Never Underestimate What a Small Group of People Can Do
Heidi Beidinger-Burnett is president of the St. Joseph County Board of Health, director of the Master of Science in Global Health Program at the University of Notre Dame and co-director of the ND Lead Innovation Team. In 2017 it was discovered that neighborhoods in South Bend had a higher rate of lead poisoning than in Flint, MI, for families that were affected there was despair and loss of hope. Heidi mobilized a team of experts and community partners and received a Community Impact Grant from the CSC to launch the Lead Innovation Team. Their mission is rooted in prevention, finding lead in homes before children are poisoned, to this end they have developed test kits for families to use to screen for lead in their homes. What started as a $7,000 seed grant from the CSC has led to over $6 million to tackle this issue in St. Joseph County. Visit https://leadinfo.nd.edu/ for more information.