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

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.