Loyola University Chicago

Healthy Homes & Healthy Communities

Overview of the Initiative

The home serves many purposes besides a place of residency. The home is where we begin and finish our day, where families and their children live, play, and grow for years, and where people have a sense of comfort and safety. Unfortunately, the home is a place where many known and unknown environmental toxins are causing health hazards that are continuously affecting these residents on a daily basis. Indoor environmental hazards in the home harm millions of children and families each year. Scientists have long recognized that indoor toxic hazards can pose far greater risks to children’s health than outdoor exposures because of the concentrated levels in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces.

In response to the risks that these physical and social toxins pose to children and families' health, the Center for the Human Rights of Children, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy, Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University Medical Center, and Loyola Law School's Civitas ChildLaw Center ("The Centers") at Loyola University Chicago have developed the Healthy Homes/Healthy Communities Initiative (HHHCI) project.

Lead paint threat still prevalent across Chicagoland

The ABC7 I-Team found that residents of Chicago and its suburbs also face a lead health-risk, but not in their water.