Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Wahouma

Wahouma is a neighborhood in the East Lake community of Birmingham. Centered around Wahouma Park, the neighborhood is bounded by 1st Avenue North to the south and I-59 to the north, from the I-20/59 split on the west to 80th Street on the east. It is encircled by the North East Lake, South East Lake, East Lake, South Woodlawn, and Woodlawn neighborhoods.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Business Retention	Economic Health	-3.7%	35	Middle	1.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	20.9%	83	Bottom	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	50.0%	69	Bottom	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	0.7	49	Middle	1.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	72.4%	86	Bottom	3.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	71.5%	77	Bottom	3.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	3.3%	77	Bottom	3.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	13.1%	44	Middle	3.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	14.2%	90	Bottom	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	4.6%	84	Bottom	1.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	80.4%	53	Middle	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	50.2%	59	Middle	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	89.8%	19	Top	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	1.5%	14	Top	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	20.5	18	Top	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	89.3%	71	Bottom	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	46.3%	75	Bottom	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	29.0%	86	Bottom	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	258.8	95	Bottom	4.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	32.1%	83	Bottom	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	19.1	84	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	1	Top	4.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	90.9	69	Bottom	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	8.6	17	Top	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	0.0%	77	Bottom	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	99.1%	36	Middle	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	1.5	79	Bottom	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	57.1%	20	Top	2.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.6	39	Middle	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	76.8	19	Top	4.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	80.5%	64	Middle	1.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	5.3%	50	Middle	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	9.3	14	Top	4.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	20.4%	34	Middle	4.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	157	19	Top	4.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	23.6%	30	Top	4.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	27.2%	99	Bottom	5.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	33.7%	93	Bottom	5.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	36.7%	96	Bottom	5.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	43.3%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	70.1	78.8
Population	1,359	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.4	0.44
Park Quality	97.5

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.