Community Health Assessment free essay sample

Covering a broad area of north and central St. Louis is the Grande Prairie Area, which is bounded by St. Louis and Grand Avenue, Delmar and Kingshighway Boulevards. From a beginning as a sparsely settled countryside in the 1860s, the Grande Prairie area experienced a gradual urbanization. This build-up followed a westward trend across Grand Avenue; among many people moving into the area were significant numbers of German and Irish immigrants as well as a few blacks. Prior to 1900, the population of the area was generally white. The nucleus of its present extensive black population began in the Elleardsville section. Elleardsville (The Ville) is situated just northwest of downtown St. Louis, and covers a roughly nine-by-five-block area. This area is bounded by Taylor Avenue on the West, St. Louis Avenue on the North, Sarah Street on the East, and Martin Luther King Drive on the South, located in the City’s 4th ward, 57th precinct, Alderman Samuel L. Moore. The area is governed by the laws of the City of Saint Louis and the State of Missouri. This section, now known simply as The Ville, became increasingly black in the initial decades of this century, because of racial segregation and convenience. Separate, but so called equal, facilities, especially schools, were required by law. As a by-product of this, it became a matter of convenience for blacks and their institutions to concentrate in a definite area. Black visitors to the 1904 Worlds Fair found themselves directed toward an established black community such as the Ville, because they were forced by exclusion from white hotels and boarding houses, to seek quarters among people of their own race. Another major cause of the concentration of blacks into certain parts of the city was residentially restrictive statutory covenants. After the first such segregative law was passed in Baltimore in 1910, the practice spread and reached St. Louis by 1916. Here, white neighborhood groups on the edge of black communities furnished much of the impetus for these local restrictions. A city-wide organization, called the United Welfare Association, was formed to promote segregation as a preventive against black incursions into white neighborhoods, on the premise that this would be detrimental to property values. Despite heroic efforts by the NAACP and support by some of the press, the covenant statute was approved by the voters, 52,210 to 17,877, on February 29, 1916. However, an injunction was soon obtained to counteract the law and in the next year such statutes were declared to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. The segregation practice was still carried on through individual property covenants, which were not outlawed until 1949. These practices had the effect of funneling more blacks into the vicinity of the Ville, and the Negro population spread out in whatever direction was possible. During the Depression of the 1930s and again during World War II, an influx of southern blacks came to St. Louis seeking employment. This, along with the removal of all restrictions after the War, caused an upsurge in the black population throughout the Grande Prairie area, so that today it is practically all black. Since 1950, when St. Louis reached its all-time population peak, there has been a considerable out-migration of blacks, as well as whites, from the City and consequently from the Grande Prairie area. As a result, the areas population is now only about one half of what it was in 1950, this fact being evidenced by the amount of demolition which is visible in residential sections. Summary population data for (The Ville) neighborhood 1990 Population3,579 2000 Population2,695 Number Change-884 Percent Change-24. 70 Total Population: 2,695 There are various institutions that serve the community civic life and recreation. One such place is the Tandy Community Center and park. The center is a meeting forum for neighborhood watch programs and improvement associations. The Park includes a basketball court, a tennis court, a playground, and a large field. In comparison to other urban settings Grande Prairie Area is rather deficient in public park facilities. The oldest public open space is Fountain Park at Euclid and Fountain Avenues; it covers an area of one and a half acres. Tandy Playground occupies the block bounded by Cottage, Goode, Kennerly and Pendleton Avenues with an area of 5. 6 acres. A community center building was erected on the eastern end of the block in 1938. These facilities are named in honor of Captain Charlton H. Tandy, a Civil War military figure and a pioneer in the black education effort in Missouri. An extensive playground area is located west of Turner School, between Pendleton and Newstead. Beckett Playground is located at Page Boulevard and Taylor Avenues. It was developed in the late 1950s. Residential sections of the Grande Prairie Area are situated in its interior away from bordering major streets containing the commercial strips. Single family dwellings are found primarily in its western portion, where it is intermixed with two or four family flats. These structures are generally built of brick and were erected between 1900 and 1920. Owner occupancy is relatively low except in the northwestern sector of the area, where property maintenance is higher. Some demolition has occurred in the area, with most of it in the eastern portions, where deterioration is more advanced. Multiple family buildings are scattered throughout the area with more concentrated in the southeastern section. Dwelling structures in the eastern part of the area are generally older and less well maintained than in the western section. Age-wise, some of these date back to the 1880s and 1890s. A number of former single family dwellings have been converted into rooming houses. Frame houses are found in poorer sections of the area where more demolition has occurred. The Ville suffers from incredibly low real estate value in comparison to St. Louis’ other seventy-eight neighborhoods. The neighborhood ranks second lowest in the value of single family residences and ninth in the value of its two- and four-family structures, which together represent 95 percent of the neighborhood’s housing options. Principal commercial streets are Delmar, Kingshighway, Grand and Martin Luther King Drive. Minor commercial strips are on Taylor, Sarah, Vandeventer and St. Louis Avenue. The most active area for stores is centered around the former Sears store on Kingshighway. Elsewhere, generally, commercial uses are in poor physical condition; with many vacant or vandalized. Considerable demolition has occurred and on major streets some older stores have been replaced by drive-ins or service stations. Competition from outlying shopping centers and a lack of adequate parking have taken their toll on neighborhood stores and shops. The major grocery facilities are Schnucks Market, Aldi and Food for Less which are located on major streets and accessible by public transit or motor vehicle. The community members will express their concern with health disparities. They will understand that education concerning hypertension, obesity and their relating factors must take precedence before a change will occur. They will understand that screenings must be consistent and the regimen prescribed by the healthcare professional must be followed. Consequently, the community will experience an improved health status. Healthy Community 2010: Goal: Provide a safe and secure community that supports mutual respect for all residents and property and contributes to improving the quality of everyone’s life. (This essential component includes: public safety infrastructure, law enforcement, fire safety, crime reduction, intentional injury prevention). The neighborhood was not easy to assess, there was distrust among the community for anyone considered an outsider. None of the residents were willing to discuss the issues in the community. The lack of police presence and involvement in community activity was markedly noted. . The fire department does have a more positive image and provides educational services than the police and public safety works department. Therefore it is recommended an increase involvement and presences from the police, public safety and fire departments community activities and daily living.