Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

East Avondale

East Avondale is a small neighborhood in the Woodlawn community of eastern Birmingham. It lies south of Division Avenue and 1st Avenue South, between the Forest Park, South Avondale and Crestwood North neighborhoods. Annexed into Birmingham in 1910, Avondale was originally a company town built around the Avondale Mills.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Abandoned Structures	Blight	8.6%	40	Middle	5.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	15.2%	95	Bottom	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	92.5%	51	Middle	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	78.7%	46	Middle	3.00
Age of Housing	Housing	83.0%	46	Middle	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-17.3%	78	Bottom	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	28.2%	69	Bottom	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	16.5%	49	Middle	4.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	92.8%	14	Top	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	29.8%	13	Top	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	66.7%	24	Top	2.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	72.4%	86	Bottom	3.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	23.7%	32	Top	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	10.6	26	Top	1.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	44.2%	82	Bottom	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	1.3%	11	Top	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	0.7	8	Top	4.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	1.1	67	Bottom	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
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	110	46	Middle	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	25.8%	35	Middle	3.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	30.8%	95	Bottom	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	29.0%	24	Top	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	46.4	28	Top	4.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	8.9%	73	Bottom	3.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	69.9%	92	Bottom	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	11.7%	32	Top	5.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	90.6%	65	Middle	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	8.2	19	Top	4.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	24.7	51	Middle	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	0.5%	69	Bottom	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	20.1%	48	Middle	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	142.3	75	Bottom	4.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	17.0%	58	Middle	5.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	6.2%	38	Middle	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	78.5	17	Top	4.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Concentrated Poverty	29.4%	30.9%
Income Inequality	0.5	0.49
Life Expectancy	74.7	78.8
Park Quality	57.9
Population	949	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.6	0.44

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.