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