To fill this gap, the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health created the City Health Dashboard, which provides city- and census tract-level data on 35+ measures of health outcomes, determinants, and equity for places with a population of 50,000 and above. Over a quarter of these measures are sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS).  The Dashboard was developed for a diverse audience including local policymakers, health department officials, nonprofit organizations, the academic community, and more.

The Dashboard uses American Community Survey data to describe health in the places where we live, learn, work, and play. ACS 5-year estimates are the primary data source for nine of the Dashboard’s metrics: children in poverty, excessive housing cost, income inequality, housing with potential lead risk, lead exposure risk index, neighborhood racial/ethnic segregation, racial/ethnic diversity, unemployment, and uninsured rates (health insurance status). In addition, ACS data are used to estimate population size and demographic information. Beyond the ACS, the Dashboard incorporates data from other sources to give a holistic picture of the health and well-being of communities. The Dashboard enables users to take data a step further, providing evidence-based resources for users to implement in their city. Over 143,308 unique visitors have accessed the free site and the powerful data within it since launching in 2018.

Outcome

ACS data on the Dashboard support local efforts for driving change. Practitioners use ACS data to identify challenges, allocate scarce resources, and establish strategies specifically targeted towards high-need areas to have the largest impact.

For example, Clifton, New Jersey’s local city council used metrics of children in poverty and lack of health insurance to approve a satellite health office in a high-need neighborhood. This health office will provide screenings, immunizations, social services case management, human resources outreach, and neighborhood patrol services to a community that had lacked access to health care and had historically been underserved by city services.

In Rancho Cucamonga, California, Healthy RC, a city-community partnership dedicated to improving community health, relied on census tract-level metrics of children in poverty, income inequality, and racial/ethnic diversity to design and implement its Quality of Life survey for the city’s residents. These metrics provided an essential community snapshot to identify the city’s greatest challenges and directed tailored outreach efforts to better engage ethnically and socioeconomically diverse groups in primary data collection. The results of the survey will inform future equitable engagement strategies specifically targeted at underserved communities.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan chapter of Invest Health, a national cross-sectoral initiative aimed at leveraging public-private partnerships in mid-sized U.S. cities, used income inequality, excessive housing cost, and unemployment metrics to pinpoint priority neighborhoods for financial investment addressing health and social disparities. This led to $50 million worth of low-income housing tax credits – about 30% of the state’s available credits – to go toward projects located in these identified neighborhoods and over $1 million invested into various Invest Health-related initiatives.

ACS data accessible through the City Health Dashboard equips public health practitioners, policymakers, and other local stakeholders with data on health and its drivers, giving them clearer insight into the challenges facing their communities and a starting point for taking action.

Locations

Clifton, NJ; Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Grand Rapids, MI

ACS Topics Used

Poverty status, housing, income and earnings, year structure built, race, Hispanic/Latino origin, employment status, health insurance coverage