Indiana NAACP Distributing Lead Testing Kits In East Chicago

By Associated Press
Only a few families remained in the West Calumet Housing Complex by February 2017. East Chicago residents are concerned demolishing buildings such as this one will kick lead contaminated dust. (Nick Janzen/IPBS)
Only a few families remained in the West Calumet Housing Complex by February 2017. East Chicago residents are concerned demolishing buildings such as this one will kick lead contaminated dust. (Nick Janzen/IPBS)
Only a few families remained in the West Calumet Housing Complex by February 2017. East Chicago residents are concerned demolishing buildings such as this one will kick lead contaminated dust. (Nick Janzen/IPBS)
Only a few families remained in the West Calumet Housing Complex by February 2017. East Chicago residents are concerned demolishing buildings such as this one will kick lead contaminated dust. (Nick Janzen/IPBS)

Indiana NAACP Distributing Lead Testing Kits In East Chicago

By Associated Press
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EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) — The NAACP is distributing free lead-testing kits in a northwestern Indiana city where hundreds of people were forced from a public-housing complex by lead contamination.

The NAACP’s Indiana Chapter plans to distribute the air, soil and water testing kits Tuesday to students who attend two East Chicago schools.

Those tests include instructions on how to test for lead in homes.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports additional testing kits will be distributed Oct. 14 during a communitywide event in the industrial city that’s about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from downtown Chicago.

East Chicago gained attention last year after more than 1,000 people were forced from the West Calumet Housing Complex. Those evacuations were ordered after tests found high lead levels in the area’s soil and in blood samples of some children.