Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

East Thomas

East Thomas is a neighborhood in the Smithfield community, north of I-59/20 and south of Village Creek, east of Thomas and west of Enon Ridge. It originated as an unplanned extension of the company town of Thomas, housing mostly African American workers at the Thomas Furnaces and the nearby East Thomas Railroad Yard.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Abandoned Structures	Blight	20.6%	92	Bottom	5.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	38.4%	32	Top	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	95.6%	47	Middle	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	80.6%	38	Middle	3.00
Age of Housing	Housing	89.7%	75	Bottom	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-8.7%	49	Middle	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	10.2%	15	Top	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	18.0%	43	Middle	4.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	83.9%	57	Middle	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	13.1%	1	Top	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	85.7%	52	Middle	2.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	80.6%	15	Top	3.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	24.2%	43	Middle	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	5.6	7	Top	1.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	61.9%	41	Middle	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	3.7%	48	Middle	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	20.4	86	Bottom	4.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0	1	Top	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	2	82	Bottom	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0.3	67	Bottom	4.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	127	34	Middle	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	11.2%	69	Bottom	3.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	15.5%	94	Bottom	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	4.4%	62	Middle	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	30.1%	26	Top	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	105.3	83	Bottom	4.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	13.4%	41	Middle	3.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	97.9%	2	Top	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	21.1%	95	Bottom	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	33.3%	99	Bottom	1.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	19.1%	50	Middle	5.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	100.0%	75	Bottom	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	4.7	51	Middle	4.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	21.5	32	Top	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	1.9%	61	Middle	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	26.8%	81	Bottom	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	64.2	21	Top	4.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	14.9%	53	Middle	5.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	7.6%	15	Top	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	56.3	45	Middle	4.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Concentrated Poverty	25.1%	30.9%
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Life Expectancy	70.3	78.8
Park Quality	96.3
Population	977	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.3	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.