Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

East Avondale

East Avondale is a small neighborhood in the Woodlawn community of eastern Birmingham. It lies south of Division Avenue and 1st Avenue South, between the Forest Park, South Avondale and Crestwood North neighborhoods. Annexed into Birmingham in 1910, Avondale was originally a company town built around the Avondale Mills.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	15.2%	95	Bottom	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	30.8%	95	Bottom	1.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	69.9%	92	Bottom	1.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	72.4%	86	Bottom	3.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	44.2%	82	Bottom	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-17.3%	78	Bottom	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	142.3	75	Bottom	4.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	8.9%	73	Bottom	3.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	28.2%	69	Bottom	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	0.5%	69	Bottom	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	1.1	67	Bottom	1.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	90.6%	65	Middle	1.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	17.0%	58	Middle	5.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	92.5%	51	Middle	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	24.7	51	Middle	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	16.5%	49	Middle	4.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	20.1%	48	Middle	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	83.0%	46	Middle	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	78.7%	46	Middle	3.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	110	46	Middle	4.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	8.6%	40	Middle	5.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	6.2%	38	Middle	1.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	25.8%	35	Middle	3.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	23.7%	32	Top	4.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	11.7%	32	Top	5.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	46.4	28	Top	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	10.6	26	Top	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	29.0%	24	Top	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	66.7%	24	Top	2.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	8.2	19	Top	4.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	78.5	17	Top	4.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	92.8%	14	Top	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	29.8%	13	Top	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	1.3%	11	Top	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	0.7	8	Top	4.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	0	1	Top	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0	1	Top	4.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.5	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	29.4%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	74.7	78.8
Population	949	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.6	0.44
Park Quality	57.9

These measures, while clearly significant to community health, may not fit the criteria of “actionable” at the neighborhood level or data may only be available at a city-wide level. Because individual neighborhoods may not have a direct impact on these measures, they have been excluded from the Neighborhood’s overall ranking. However, they are documented to provide “context” for the neighborhood which could potentially identify alternative avenues to improve community health.