The Office of Environmental Management & Services recently provided its annual accounting to the University of Pennsylvania of how this past year’s installment of its 10-year, $100 million grant was used to help support healthier learning spaces across the District through the management of environmental conditions, particularly lead and asbestos.

The report noted that nearly every District building contains some form of asbestos materials; each of the District’s 292 buildings is required to undergo inspection every six months to assess conditions of those materials, so any damaged material can be removed or repaired.

In the past fiscal year, the District spent more than $20.7 million for asbestos and lead monitoring, remediation or abatement, and oversight. Importantly, the Penn funding provided critical resources to move swiftly through emergent abatement projects, ultimately allowing educational space to remain open to reopen more quickly in healthier condition.

In total, the Penn Grant funded environmental abatement projects in 241 separate schools, including work in the six schools with temporary closures.