Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Forest Park

Forest Park is an historic residential neighborhood on the northern slope of Red Mountain, southeast of downtown Birmingham. The main residential neighborhoods were designed and developed by the Jemison Company beginning in 1906. In the Birmingham Community Participation Program, Forest Park is part of the Forest Park-South Avondale neighborhood in the Red Mountain community.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	69	34	Middle	4.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	7.4%	22	Top	1.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	1.6%	7	Top	5.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	90.4	52	Middle	4.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	17.6%	40	Middle	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	1.6%	62	Middle	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	19.8	12	Top	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	10.5	13	Top	4.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	90.1%	63	Middle	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	0.5%	4	Top	5.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	74.5%	78	Bottom	1.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	10.3%	62	Middle	3.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	22.8	15	Top	4.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	22.2%	16	Top	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	29.7%	74	Bottom	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	12.9%	92	Bottom	1.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	36.4%	21	Top	3.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	163	16	Top	4.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0	1	Top	4.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	0	1	Top	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.9	61	Middle	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	3.1	32	Top	4.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	1.2%	10	Top	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	57.8%	52	Middle	1.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.7	9	Top	1.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	4.6	4	Top	1.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	21.6%	10	Top	4.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	74.1%	80	Bottom	3.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	50.0%	13	Top	2.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	30.0%	14	Top	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	93.1%	13	Top	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	9.9%	77	Bottom	4.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	19.9%	38	Middle	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-13.4%	71	Bottom	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	78.1%	34	Middle	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	85.6%	16	Top	3.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	99.5%	35	Middle	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	53.4%	10	Top	1.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	8.4%	39	Middle	5.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.5	0.44
Population	4,249	210,616
Park Quality	93.8
Life Expectancy	78.9	78.8
Income Inequality	0.5	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	26.2%	30.9%

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.