Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

East Thomas

East Thomas is a neighborhood in the Smithfield community, north of I-59/20 and south of Village Creek, east of Thomas and west of Enon Ridge. It originated as an unplanned extension of the company town of Thomas, housing mostly African American workers at the Thomas Furnaces and the nearby East Thomas Railroad Yard.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
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
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	13.1%	1	Top	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0	1	Top	1.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	97.9%	2	Top	1.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	5.6	7	Top	1.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	7.6%	15	Top	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	10.2%	15	Top	1.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	80.6%	15	Top	3.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	64.2	21	Top	4.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	30.1%	26	Top	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	38.4%	32	Top	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	21.5	32	Top	1.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	127	34	Middle	4.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	80.6%	38	Middle	3.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	61.9%	41	Middle	1.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	13.4%	41	Middle	3.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	18.0%	43	Middle	4.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	24.2%	43	Middle	4.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	56.3	45	Middle	4.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	95.6%	47	Middle	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	3.7%	48	Middle	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-8.7%	49	Middle	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	19.1%	50	Middle	5.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	4.7	51	Middle	4.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	85.7%	52	Middle	2.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	14.9%	53	Middle	5.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	83.9%	57	Middle	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	1.9%	61	Middle	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	4.4%	62	Middle	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0.3	67	Bottom	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	11.2%	69	Bottom	3.00
Age of Housing	Housing	89.7%	75	Bottom	1.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	100.0%	75	Bottom	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	26.8%	81	Bottom	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	2	82	Bottom	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	105.3	83	Bottom	4.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	20.4	86	Bottom	4.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	20.6%	92	Bottom	5.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	15.5%	94	Bottom	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	21.1%	95	Bottom	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	33.3%	99	Bottom	1.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	25.1%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	70.3	78.8
Population	977	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.3	0.44
Park Quality	96.3

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.