U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England Office Selects Abt Associates for Environmental Merit Award

Business Wire, April 22, 2004

Business Editors/Science Writers/Environment Writers/High-Tech

Writers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2004

The New England office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected Abt Associates Inc. to receive an Environmental Merit Award. The award recognizes outstanding environmental advocates who have made significant contributions toward preserving and protecting our natural resources.

An independent EPA panel recognized Abt Associates for LeadSafeHomes.Info, an interactive online lead database. The project website (http://www.leadsafehomes.info) provides parents, community leaders, healthcare providers, and other potential users with easily accessible data about the lead status of housing units, free of charge. LeadSafeHomes.Info is a crucial component in a national effort to eliminate childhood lead poisoning by 2010, as established by the President's Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children.

The EPA, which values creative approaches that emphasize community involvement, cited Abt Associates and LeadSafeHomes.Info for the project's ability to introduce effective solutions to an environmental problem, facilitate multi-disciplinary collaboration, and distribute clear and concise information and decision-making tools to a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations. The EPA has conferred the awards annually since the agency's creation in 1970 (http://www.epa.gov/region1/ra/ema/).

"Visitors to the website can learn about health effects from lead exposure and choose from among report formats tailored to individual properties and communities by census tract," explained Penny Schaffer, the Abt Associates Project Director for LeadSafeHomes.Info. "The reports contain easy-to-understand geographic information system (GIS)-based maps, tables, and text geared toward an eighth-grade reading level. LeadSafeHomes.Info makes 'public' information truly public by combining readability with ready Internet access."

By placing high-quality information in the hands of more people, the website enables users to make better decisions when choosing a residence. Simple commands help users learn about blood-lead levels in neighborhood children, histories of building inspections and violations, legal resources, qualified lead inspectors and contractors, and recommendations for action. Users can compare different neighborhoods and make informed choices of where to rent or buy property. These decisions in turn help reduce childhood lead poisoning. A page designed for landlords focuses on hazard mitigation and legal responsibility.

Web pages with current, regularly updated information went live on April 16 for Baltimore and will go live on April 30 for Chicago and in mid May for Boston. Baltimore, Chicago, and Boston - the project's pilot cities -- will serve as models for a national lead database system.

Abt Associates (www.abtassociates.com), a private, employee-owned company, applies scientific research and technical assistance expertise to a wide range of social, economic, and technological policy issues; international development; clinical trials and registries; and complex business problems. Founded in 1965, Abt Associates provides services to U.S. federal, state, and local governments; foreign governments; international organizations; foundations; and business and industry. Its staff of over 1,000 is located in offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bethesda, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; and overseas in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.