Statistics show Englewood is Chicago’s worst neighborhood when it comes to lead poisoning.

An aging housing stock, lead-laden soil and a lack of awareness perpetuate the problem, activists say. But an event this Sunday is aimed at increasing awareness of lead and the problems it causes. Organizers hope it will lay the groundwork for eliminating lead poisioning in the neighborhood.

"We want to talk about the seriousness of lead poisoning, and we'll have materials for parents to take home with them," says Jean Carter-Hill, executive director of Imagine Englewood If, a non-profit community group.

In an effort to boost awareness of the danger of lead in the neighborhood's environment, Imagine Englewood If, in collaboration with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and the Visitation Catholic Scholarship Program, is hosting the Lead Awareness Fun Festival from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Peace Community Center, 6455 S. Peoria. It is the festival's second year.

The free event includes music, games and poetry, but the real focus is on lead poisoning education. The Chicago Department of Public Health will perform free lead screenings for children 6 and younger, the prime ages for children to be affected by lead.

Too few people talk about the affect lead has on children, in schools and the community, Carter-Hill says.

"We're not dealing with the real issue. The real issue in Englewood is that children have lead, and it's affecting their behavior," she says.

Lead has been proven to cause brain damage, learning disabilities and contributes to aggressive behavior, which, Carter-Hill says, leads many young people to trouble.

"These children end up in the prison system. We see them all the time in the streets," she says. "We see them on the streets, and next week they're in jail."

The tragedy, says Anita Weinberg, chair of the Loyola University's Lead Safe Housing Task Force, is that lead poisoning is preventable.

"The thing that strikes me more about this problem, more than any other I've worked on, is that we know how to fix this problem," says Weinberg, "It shouldn't be such a big thing. It should be one of the easiest things we can tackle."

Instances of lead poisoning have dipped nationwide in recent years, and they have in Chicago, too. However, Chicago - and Englewood, in particular - still has some of the highest rates in the country.

The city, in cooperation with Loyola and the University of Illinois at Chicago, has tackled lead poisoning in recent years. In 2000, 17.3 percent of city children tested positive for elevated lead levels. In 2007, according to the most recent data, 2.5 percent of children had elevated blood levels.

Still, Carter-Hill says, the issue needs more discussion, especially in places like Englewood, which has more than double the city's average for elevated lead levels.

"We need people to knock on doors. We need people to talk in churches. We need people to have access to information about lead poisoning," she says.