Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Oak Ridge Park

Oak Ridge Park is a small neighborhood in the Woodlawn community of eastern Birmingham. It lies between I-20 and U.S. Highway 78, east of Crestwood North and west of Gate City and Eastwood. It includes the Harris Homes housing project and The Park Alloa Apartments, and is near the former Century Plaza Shopping Center.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	34.3%	92	Bottom	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	52.4%	90	Bottom	1.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	28.1%	87	Bottom	5.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	72.4%	86	Bottom	3.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	27.5	82	Bottom	4.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	1.7	78	Bottom	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	78.0%	78	Bottom	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	159.1	77	Bottom	4.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	8.4%	76	Bottom	3.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	26.3%	72	Bottom	5.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	50.0%	69	Bottom	1.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	65	64	Middle	4.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	12.5%	61	Middle	5.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	13.2%	58	Middle	4.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	82.0%	54	Middle	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	53	Middle	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.1%	52	Middle	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	4.7	51	Middle	4.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	25.5%	51	Middle	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	44.2%	50	Middle	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	83.2%	48	Middle	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	34.8%	46	Middle	1.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	16.7%	38	Middle	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	2.8%	36	Middle	1.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	23.8%	35	Middle	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	11.5	28	Top	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	21	25	Top	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	25.0%	24	Top	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	83.8%	23	Top	3.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	34.6%	23	Top	3.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	60.0%	22	Top	2.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	22.1	13	Top	4.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	7.7%	13	Top	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	1.2	11	Top	4.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	0.1%	9	Top	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	28.6%	8	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 Brownfield Sites	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	39.8%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	75.4	78.8
Population	1,716	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.5	0.44
Park Quality	18.1

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.