Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Forest Park

Forest Park is an historic residential neighborhood on the northern slope of Red Mountain, southeast of downtown Birmingham. The main residential neighborhoods were designed and developed by the Jemison Company beginning in 1906. In the Birmingham Community Participation Program, Forest Park is part of the Forest Park-South Avondale neighborhood in the Red Mountain community.

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
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
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	0.5%	4	Top	5.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	4.6	4	Top	1.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	1.6%	7	Top	5.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.7	9	Top	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	53.4%	10	Top	1.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	21.6%	10	Top	4.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	1.2%	10	Top	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	19.8	12	Top	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	93.1%	13	Top	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	50.0%	13	Top	2.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	10.5	13	Top	4.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	30.0%	14	Top	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	22.8	15	Top	4.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	22.2%	16	Top	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	85.6%	16	Top	3.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	163	16	Top	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	36.4%	21	Top	3.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	7.4%	22	Top	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	3.1	32	Top	4.00
Age of Housing	Housing	78.1%	34	Middle	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	69	34	Middle	4.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	99.5%	35	Middle	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	19.9%	38	Middle	1.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	8.4%	39	Middle	5.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	17.6%	40	Middle	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	57.8%	52	Middle	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	90.4	52	Middle	4.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.9	61	Middle	1.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	10.3%	62	Middle	3.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	1.6%	62	Middle	1.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	90.1%	63	Middle	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-13.4%	71	Bottom	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	29.7%	74	Bottom	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	9.9%	77	Bottom	4.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	74.5%	78	Bottom	1.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	74.1%	80	Bottom	3.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	12.9%	92	Bottom	1.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.5	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	26.2%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	78.9	78.8
Population	4,249	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.5	0.44
Park Quality	93.8

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.