Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

College Hills

College Hills is a neighborhood in the Smithfield community. Originally built to house industrial workers, the neighborhood played a significant role in
the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement during the 1960's.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Business Retention	Economic Health	-12.5%	67	Bottom	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	28.2%	61	Middle	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	39.3%	90	Bottom	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	1.2	66	Middle	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	69.5%	85	Bottom	3.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	80.6%	15	Top	3.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	4.7%	76	Bottom	3.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	13.4%	41	Middle	3.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	3.2%	81	Bottom	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	85.5%	62	Middle	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	15.3%	92	Bottom	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	59.3%	71	Bottom	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	78.1%	76	Bottom	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	7.7%	94	Bottom	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	21.2	27	Top	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	97.0%	99	Bottom	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	46.8%	78	Bottom	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	28.4%	84	Bottom	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	66.7	45	Middle	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	6.9	11	Top	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	67.9	23	Top	4.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	7.8%	8	Top	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	10.5	72	Bottom	4.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0.6	87	Bottom	4.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	0.0%	77	Bottom	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	100.0%	1	Top	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0	1	Top	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	75.0%	38	Middle	2.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	69	34	Middle	4.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	90.2%	17	Top	1.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	4.2%	81	Bottom	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	12	11	Top	4.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	18.8%	41	Middle	4.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	21.9%	14	Top	4.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	175	9	Top	4.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	18.7%	86	Bottom	5.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	10.8%	29	Top	5.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	18.0%	61	Middle	5.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	28.9%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	70.6	78.8
Population	1,708	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0	0.44
Park Quality	56.3

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.