Community and urban gardening offer numerous benefits. Some gardens and outdoor play areas may have harmful substances like lead in the soil. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) promotes health education and outreach events called “soilSHOPs” to help people learn if their soil is contaminated with lead, and how to reduce exposures to contaminated soil and produce. The name soilSHOP stands for Soil Screening, Health, Outreach and Partnership. ATSDR developed this toolkit to help communities and other groups plan their own soilSHOP events.
At soilSHOP events, people can receive:
- Free soil screening for lead,
- Information on safe gardening practices,
- Ways to protect children from lead exposure, and
- One-on-one health education about the hazards of lead.
How to Host a soilSHOP
Outreach and Partnership
- Become familiar with the community
- Identify community special needs and stakeholders
- Organize and partner
Soil Screening
- Become familiar with soil screening guidance
- Secure screening equipment and technicians
Health Education
- Provide soil screening results and one-on-one health education
- Share resources on safe gardening techniques and health-related services
Other Tools, Resources and Information
- Additional Activities
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
- Videos
- Lessons Learned (Coming soon in 2017!)
Toolkit in Action
- soilSHOP videos
- soilSHOPs in Your Community
- Lessons Learned (Coming Soon!)
- Page last reviewed: July 11, 2016
- Page last updated: July 11, 2016
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