Resources

HCI & HCAT

Information regarding the development of the Healthy Community Index (HCI) and Healthy Community Assessment Tool (HCAT) can be found here, along with information about potential uses of the HCI and HCAT, User guides for data collection and the HCAT, other selected sustainable indicator projects, and ongoing information and research related to healthy communities.

Minneapolis & Minnesota Specific Resources

Community Health Initiative Resources

Below you will find a handful of resources intended to help you understand the impact of community and the built environment on health and well-being, as well as ways to impact the factors that influence community health. These resources have been assigned to domains to assist you in finding information, however you may find some links in more than one domain as they impact more than a single domain area.

General Resources

HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Housing (OLHCHH)
OLHCHH created the Healthy Communities Index and its companion, the Health Communities Assessment Tool (HCAT), to help communities identify and track social, economic and environmental determinants of community health. OLHCHH provides funds to state and local governments to develop cost-effective ways to reduce lead-based paint hazards. The office also enforces HUD's lead-based paint regulations, provides public outreach and technical assistance, and conducts technical studies to help protect children and their families from health and safety hazards in the home.

Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 provides national objectives for improving health. The Healthy People initiative has established benchmarks and monitored progress for more than three decades with the goal of encouraging collaborations across communities and sectors; empowering individuals toward making informed health decisions; and measuring the impact of prevention activities.

Health Indicators Warehouse (HIW)
HIW provides access to high quality data to help improve understanding of a community’s health status and determinants, and facilitates the prioritization of interventions. The HIW serves as the data hub for the HHS Community Health Data Initiative, a flagship HHS open government initiative to release data; encourage innovative application development; and catalyze change to improve community health.

CDC Division of Community Health (DCH)
DCH provides a wealth of research and resources related issues that impact community health.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Commission to Build a Healthier America
The RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America was a national, independent, non-partisan group of leaders that came together from February 2008 to December 2009 to examine factors outside of medical care that influence health. The Commission researched and reviewed evidence, collected new data and listened to experts, leaders and citizens around the country. Based on their research and this feedback, the Commission issued 10 recommendations to improve health at the local, state and federal levels.

Investing in What Works for America's Communities
What Works is a series of reports and case studies that showcase examples of policy, programs and projects designed to improve American quality of life. Developed by leaders from diverse disciplines, the site provides articles focusing on issues ranging from fighting poverty and workforce development to transit-oriented development.

National Neighborhood Indicators Project (NNIP)
The NNIP is a collaborative effort by the Urban Institute and local partners to promote the development and use of neighborhood information in local policymaking and community building. The site features access to an array of data source and a library of resources for developed by Project partners or for the overall project.

International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
ICMA offers a variety of resources and network of knowledge from its work with City officials, both across the United States and internationally. ICMA's Center for Performance Analytics provides analytical tools, training, and technical assistance. Its Center for Sustainable Communities provides practice research; training, education, and technical assistance; and communication about sustainability for local government professionals and stakeholders. Current focus areas include: data and technology; economic development; energy and environment; service delivery; social equity/community development; and sustainability planning. Finally, ICMA's Center for Management Strategies helps local government managers identify and implement leading practices to address organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Focus areas include: Citizen engagement; High performance organizations; priority based budgeting; collaborative service delivery; process improvement; and data driven communities

Center on Society and Health
The Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University is an academic research center that studies the health implications of social factors—such as education, income, neighborhood and community environmental conditions, and public policy. The Center provides research on issues related to improving the health of Americans. The Center's work spans all geographic levels—international comparisons between the US and other countries, conditions affecting Americans nationwide, the health of states, and studies of cities, communities, and neighborhoods—with a focus on drawing the connections between society and health.

Demographic and Contextual Measures

National Poverty Center
The National Poverty Center provides research on the multilayered issues of poverty. The Center promotes policy-relevant research, mentors and trains emerging scholars, and informs public discourse on the causes and consequences of poverty.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a non-partisan initiative that brings diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to find solutions to economic hardship and poverty. Spotlight provides ongoing exchange of ideas, research and data to inform policies to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States.

Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC)
PRRAC works to eradicate issues of poverty and racism. Current projects focus on health, housing, education, and civil research issues.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Maps for Life Expectancy
RWJF developed maps for life expectancy in several communities across the country which show that where you live has an influence on how long you can expect to live

American Planning Association's (APA) City Parks Forum
The City Parks Forum provides a venue for urban leaders interested in addressing the challenges of creating and enhancing parks. It is a collaboration between the APA and the National Recreation and Park Association that seeks to utilize parks in planning vital, livable communities. The site provides case studies, briefs, and technical reports to help community leaders understand how parks play an integrated role in urban environments and how to improve access to parks and recreational areas.

Economic Health

Corporation for Economic Development (CFED)
CFED’s Knowledge Center provides a range of resources that showcase research, publications and events in the asset building field. Visitors can find case studies and resources of best practices designed to help low-income families build assets.

Pew Charitables Trust
The Pew Charitable Trust consumer banking project studies the accounts that Americans rely on to manage their finances, including checking accounts, prepaid cards, and mobile payments. The site provides research and analysis about consumer protections and the financial marketplace.

National League of Cities (NLC)
NLC has developed a resource center to help local governments support entrepreneurs and small businesses in their community. The site provides case studies, research and resources designed to help cities with the tools they need to empower business owners and help foster a strong small business community.

Small Business Administration (SBA)
The SBA features research and statistics to support Communities in their effort to grow and retain small businesses.

Education

Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)
CSSP provides resources to help communities improve opportunities for children and families. The site promotes policy solutions and provides technical assistance to help communities understand how to use data for learning and accountability, build partnerships to support change, implement effective policy to support early childhood education, and communication strategies and policies to improve educational outcomes.

Brown Center on Education Policy
The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute provides empirical analysis on U.S. education policy. The Center's primary activities focus on quantitative social science, and its research is wide-ranging. Recent work includes studies on the impact of curriculum, academic standards and accountability, class size, instructional technology, school choice, the Common Core, student loans, preschool education, public pensions, teacher evaluation, philanthropic advocacy, the costs of assessments, the contributions of school districts and their leaders to student outcomes, math education, and the academic achievement of U.S. students on international assessments. The Brown Center Report on American Education is an annual analysis of the state of education in the U.S. and the Brown Center Chalkboard is a source of analysis and opinion from Brown Center scholars and guests.

National Center for Children and Families
NCCF advances policy, education, and development of children and their families. Housed at Teachers College, Columbia University, the Center produces and applies interdisciplinary research to improve practice and to raise public awareness of social issues that affect the well-being of children and families in the United States and around the world.

Kids Count
A project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, KIDS COUNT is the premier source for data on child and family well-being in the United States. Access hundreds of indicators, download data and create reports and graphics on the KIDS COUNT Data Center that support smart decisions about children and families.

Attendance Works Toolkit
was designed by Attendance Works, a national and state initiative, that promotes awareness of the important role that school attendance plays in achieving academic success starting with school entry. Their goal is to ensure that every district in the country not only tracks chronic absence data beginning in kindergarten or ideally earlier, but also partners with families and community agencies to intervene when attendance is a problem for children or particular schools.

Every Student Present
Every Student Present is a public awareness campaign in New York designed to help school staff, parents and communities understand the impact of chronic absence—missing 10 percent of school. The goals of the campaign are to promote awareness of chronic absence and to build capacity among schools, families and communities to reduce it.

Employment Opportunities/Workforce Development

National Skills Coalition
The National Skills Coalition is a broad-based coalition that supports the growth of the economy by investing in workforce development ensuring that every worker and industry has the skills to compete and prosper. The Coalition promotes advocacy and communications to advance state and federal policies that support workforce development goals based on on-the-ground expertise gained from Coalition members. The site features innovative policies and a resource library.

What Works in Job Training
A report from the Department of Labor that synthesizes research on building employment opportunities and provides examples successful workforce development programs.

The Hamilton Project
The Hamilton Project produces innovative policy proposals on how to create a growing economy. The Project’s strategy reflects a judgment that long-term prosperity is best achieved by fostering economic growth and broad participation in that growth and by enhancing individual economic security. The Project's site provides cases studies and strategy papers focused on creating effective workforce programs.

Environmental Hazards

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
EPA provides evidence and practices designed to promote sustainable healthy communities by reducing air and water pollution. The site details how certain programs and steps benefit air and water quality.

National Service Center for Environmental Publications
The EPA National Service Center for Environmental Publications features case studies, research, and resources to help communities reduce local health hazards.

Brownfields Center
The Brownfields Center, sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, provides resources, research and practical information about reducing the impact of Brownfields in your community.

National Assn of Clean Air Agencies (NCAA)
NCAA is a national, non-partisan, non-profit association of air pollution control agencies in 41 states, the District of Columbia, four territories and 116 metropolitan areas. NCAA's site provides resources, research, and practices designed to improve air quality.

National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)
NEEF helps implement public awareness and engagement campaigns to showcase how everyday actions based on sound environmental knowledge can lead to huge impacts. Campaigns are based on social and behavioral science research; success is measured through periodic national surveys. NEEF's research and best practices unit pilots projects to test the potential for environmental education for new audiences that include businesses, weathercasters, and the Latino community. NEEF also offers a wide range of grants and awards.

Smart Growth America (SGA)
Smart Growth America is a national coalition of state and local organization working for smart growth across the country. SGA's work ranges from promoting sidewalk development so people can walk to their town center, and building homes near public transit, to the retention of productive farms in communities.. SGA provides research, practical solutions, and case studies to support smart growth and sustainable practices.

Neighborhood Green Space and Health in a Large Urban Center
A scientific report featured on nature.com that quantifies the return provided by tree cover and green space in urban centers.

Housing

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Find an array of federal programs and resources to create and sustain affordable, healthy housing.

National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH)
NCHH, a national nonprofit dedicated to securing healthy homes for all, integrates healthy housing advocacy, research, and capacity building under one roof to reduce health disparities. NCHH's site features myriad resources, from research to financial resources to support healthy, affordable housing.

Neighborworks America
NeighborWorks America helps build strong, resilient communities by providing people with opportunities to live in safe, healthy and affordable housing, whether they own or rent. NeighborWorks offers grants, training and technical assistance to support the efforts of NeighborWorks member organizations and the community development field to develop healthy homes and communities. The NeighborWorks site provides numerous resources to promote and support community development and affordable housing.

Green and Healthy Homes Initiative
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, directed by the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, that addresses the health and energy efficiency needs of a home through a holistic intervention model. The site features resources about healthy housing and information about how to get involved in the initiative.

Natural Areas

Trust for Public Land
TPL offers research to support economic and health benefits of parks and open space, along with innovative practices for public parks and green space

American Planning Association's (APA) City Parks Forum
The City Parks Forum provides a venue for urban leaders interested in addressing the challenges of creating and enhancing parks. It is a collaboration between the APA and the National Recreation and Park Association that seeks to utilize parks in planning vital, livable communities. The site provides case studies, briefs, and technical reports to help community leaders understand how parks play an integrated role in urban environments and how to improve access to parks and recreational areas.

Alliance for Community Trees
ACTrees is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to planting, sustaining, and advocating for trees in America’s communities. ACTrees works with grassroots member organizations and network partners in to engage volunteers to improve the environment. ACTrees highlights successful community programs and resources.

Neighborhood Green Space and Health in a Large Urban Center
A scientific report featured on nature.com that quantifies the return provided by tree cover and green space in urban centers.

Neighborhood Characteristics

Building Healthy Places Initiative
The Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Building Healthy Places Initiative helps make the link between human health and development. The site provides evidence-supported opportunities to enhance health outcomes in real estate developments.

American Planning Association's (APA) City Parks Forum
The City Parks Forum provides a venue for urban leaders interested in addressing the challenges of creating and enhancing parks. It is a collaboration between the APA and the National Recreation and Park Association that seeks to utilize parks in planning vital, livable communities. The site provides case studies, briefs, and technical reports to help community leaders understand how parks play an integrated role in urban environments and how to improve access to parks and recreational areas.

Public Health Law Center
The Public Health Law Center features policies, research and resources to help increase access to healthy, affordable food.

Fair Food Network
Fair Food Network is a national nonprofit that works at the intersection of food systems, sustainability, and social equity to provide access to healthy, fresh and sustainably grown food, especially in underserved communities. The Network implements model programs to bring the right stakeholders together to generate ideas, share resources, and promote policy changes to repair the nation's food system.

Social Compact
Social Compact is a coalition of business leaders from across the country who promote successful business investment in lower-income communities for the benefit of current residents. Social Compact addresses some of the key impediments to private investment in inner-city communities, namely, negative stereotypes – reinforced by poverty and deficiency data coupled with a lack of dependable business-oriented market information — and an absence of effective inner-city market analysis models.Social Compact provides inner-city neighborhood market analysis, and municipal and community trainings and consulting.

The Community Guide
The Community Guide is a collection of practices and policies designed to promote health. The Guide features recommendations to reduce the density of alcohol outlets.

National Complete Streets Coalition
Complete Streets provides information and resources to help integrate people and place in the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of our transportation networks. The Coalition promotes the development and implementation of policies and professional practices that ensure streets are safe for people of all ages and abilities, balance the needs of different modes, and support local land uses, economies, cultures, and natural environments.

Transportation Research Board
TRB provides transportation practitioners, researchers, public officials, and other professionals information and research to help address the transportation challenges of the 21st century.

Walk On: Strategies to Promote Walkable Communities
A brief developed by Prevention Institute

Public Health and Safety

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
The Department of Justice's BJS provides data and research on community policing policies and practices.

Connecting Sustainability and Public Safety
The Sustainable City Network provides guidance on how to reduce crime through community engagement.

Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials
APCO International is the world’s largest organization of public safety communications professionals. It provides complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach. Its site offers common solutions to critical issues through research and best practices.

International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC)
ICPC is a unique international forum and resource centre dedicated to the exchange of ideas and knowledge on crime prevention and community safety. ICPC seeks to promote crime prevention, encourage the development of inspiring practices, and foster effective exchange between criminal justice systems and civil societies across countries and cities.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP, pronounced "H-Cup") is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). HCUP databases bring together the data collection efforts of State data organizations, hospital associations, private data organizations, and the Federal government to create a national information resource of encounter-level health care data.

Project RED
Project Re-Engineered Discharge is a research group at Boston University Medical Center that develops and tests strategies to improve the hospital discharge process in a way that promotes patient safety and reduces re-hospitalization rates. The Project RED site outlines components of the project and features a Toolkit designed to help prevent repeat hospitalizations.

Promising Practices for Preventing Low Birth Weight
is an Issue Brief from the Promising Practices Network that provides a concise overview of research-based information related to preventing low birth weight.

Attendance Works Toolkit
was designed by Attendance Works, a national and state initiative, that promotes awareness of the important role that school attendance plays in achieving academic success starting with school entry. Their goal is to ensure that every district in the country not only tracks chronic absence data beginning in kindergarten or ideally earlier, but also partners with families and community agencies to intervene when attendance is a problem for children or particular schools.

Every Student Present
Every Student Present is a public awareness campaign in New York designed to help school staff, parents and communities understand the impact of chronic absence—missing 10 percent of school. The goals of the campaign are to promote awareness of chronic absence and to build capacity among schools, families and communities to reduce it.

Social Cohesion

Partners for Livable Communities
Partners for Livable Communities is a national nonprofit organization working to restore and renew the communities we work and live in. Partners has over thirty years of experience in solving community problems by providing information, leadership and guidance that help communities help themselves. We welcome the opportunity to bring our experience to your community.

National Conference on Citizenship
The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) is a congressionally chartered organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in America. Its nationwide network of partners are involved in a cutting-edge civic health initiative, an innovative national service project, and cross-sector conferences. At the core of these joint efforts is the belief that every person has the ability to help their community and country thrive. NCoC is committed to supporting the growing engagement of Americans. As a bridge between partners in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, NCoC administers various programs and initiatives to help build a more active and engaged citizenry and unlock the power of the nation's most valuable resource: its citizens.

The Voter Participation Center
The Voter Participation Center (VPC) is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization dedicated to increasing the participation of historically underrepresented groups in democracy. VPC seeks to boost the civic engagement of women, people of color and millennials—the three demographic groups who comprise the Rising American Electorate (RAE).

The Center for Voting and Democracy
The Center offers research and analysis to help promote voting in local, state, and national elections.

Transportation

DOT Transportation and Health Tool (THT)
The Transportation Health Tool was developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide easy access to data that practitioners can use to examine the health impacts of transportation systems. The tool provides data on a set of transportation and public health indicators for each U.S. state and metropolitan area that describe how the transportation environment affects safety, active transportation, air quality, and connectivity to destinations

EPA Access to Jobs and Workers Via Transit Tool
The Access to Jobs and Workers via Transit Tool provides indicators of accessibility to destinations by public transit. Indicators summarize jobs accessible by transit as well as workers, households, and population that can access the block group via transit. Coverage is limited to metropolitan regions served by transit agencies that share their service data.

Transportation Planning Resources
The Federal Highway Administration/Federal Transit Administration provides numerous resources focused on public engagement and equity in transportation planning. It includes links to publications, legislation and guidance, recent peer events, upcoming calendar events, and related websites.

Transportation Research Board
TRB provides transportation practitioners, researchers, public officials, and other professionals information and research to help address the transportation challenges of the 21st century.

National Center for Transit Research (NCTR)
NCTR, located at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, provides research and practical solutions to help make public transportation and alternative forms of transportation safe and effective.

Reconnecting America
Reconnecting America is a national non-profit that advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges. Reconnecting America develops research and innovative public policy, while also building on-the-ground partnerships and convening key stakeholders to accelerate decision-making. The resources and documents contained within their resource center are a continuation of the Best Practices database originally funded by the Federal Transit Administration. The site features case studies, research, technical, and policy documents on almost every topic related to transit oriented development and livable communities.

Location Affordability Portal
HUD's Location Affordability Portal provides access to two tools, the Location Affordability Index and My Transportation Cost Calculator, which illustrate, from different perspectives, how housing and transportation costs impact affordability. In addition to these decision-support tools, the Portal provides access to supporting resources that offer a wide range of information on current research and practice aimed at understanding, and ultimately reducing, the combined housing and transportation cost burden borne by American families.

Center for Transit-Oriented Development
CTOD provides innovative practices, policy reform, research, analysis, and investment tools to support TOD implementation.

Funding Resources

Grantmakers in Health
Grantmakers in Health (GIH) is a nonprofit, educational organization that helps foundations and corporate giving programs improve the health of our communities. It fosters community and collaboration among grantmakers to strengthen the community's knowledge, skills, and effectiveness.

CDC Community Health Funding
The CDC's Division of Community Health (DCH) manages three awards that support grantees from large and small cities and counties, tribal organizations, and national and community organizations. These awards support cross-cutting programs that prevent and control chronic diseases and improve community health.

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Funding Guide
The Funding Guide helps communities identify and access funding resources for community health initiatives.

Health Fund Watch
Health Fund Watch is the Foundation Center's newsletter on health-related topics. It provides links to other health-related news, resources, as well as funding opportunities for individuals and organizations.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The National Institutes of Health produces a weekly release of Funding Opportunities and Notices. Not all relate to community health, but it is a resource to follow.

National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)
NEEF helps implement public awareness and engagement campaigns to showcase how everyday actions based on sound environmental knowledge can lead to huge impacts. Campaigns are based on social and behavioral science research; success is measured through periodic national surveys. NEEF's research and best practices unit pilots projects to test the potential for environmental education for new audiences that include businesses, weathercasters, and the Latino community. NEEF also offers a wide range of grants and awards.

U.S. Federal Agencies' Toolkit

HUD and several other federal agencies have developed a variety of tools that communities can use in conjunction with the HCAT to evaluate and monitor community health. Here are a few that HUD's OLHCHH has been working with during the development of HCAT that may be of interest to communities that adopt the HCAT:

HUD Enterprise Geographic Information System (EGIS)
HUD eGIS Storefront is an easy-to-use site where users can search for and discover HUD's geospatial datasets, application programming interfaces (APIs), web-based mapping tools, and other eGIS initiatives.

Location Affordability Portal
HUD's Location Affordability Portal provides access to two tools, the Location Affordability Index and My Transportation Cost Calculator, which illustrate how housing and transportation costs impact affordability from the perspective of the community as well as the individual user. In addition to these decision-support tools, the Portal provides access to supporting resources that offer a wide range of information on current research and practice aimed at understanding, and ultimately reducing, the combined housing and transportation cost burden borne by American families.

EPA Environmental Justice Screen (EJScreen)
EJScreen is an environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool created by the EPA to aid the agency's protection of public health and the environment. The tool is based on nationally consistent data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports.

EPA Smart Location Database and Mapping
These are EPA data tools that measure the built environment and transit accessibility of neighborhoods across metropolitan regions and across the United States. The Smart Location Database summarizes more than 90 different indicators associated with the built environment and location efficiency. Indicators include density of development, diversity of land use, street network design, and accessibility to destinations as well as various demographic and employment statistics. Most attributes are available for all U.S. block groups. The Access to Jobs and Workers Via Transit Tool provides indicators of accessibility to destinations by public transit. Indicators summarize jobs accessible by transit as well as workers, households, and population that can access the block group via transit. Coverage is limited to metropolitan regions served by transit agencies that share their service data.

The Built Environment Assessment Tool Manual
The Built Environment Assessment Tool, developed by the CDC, explains the importance of understanding and measuring the built environment and provides communities a tool which can be used to do so.

Transportation and Health Tool (THT)
The Transportation and Health Tool was developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide easy access to data that practitioners can use to examine the health impacts of transportation systems. The tool provides data on a set of transportation and public health indicators for each U.S. state and metropolitan area that describe how the transportation environment affects safety, active transportation, air quality, and connectivity to destinations.

Download Assessment Data

The Healthy Communities Index (HCI) neighborhood rankings and indicator values are available for download below. Data used in the HCI and Healthy Communities Assessment Tool (HCAT) come from a variety of sources which may be updated periodically. However, as data in the HCI and HCAT are not automatically updated, data available from the HCAT may not represent the most current indicator values available. For users interested in learning more about the data sources and/or recreating the HCI with the most current data, information about the data source and steps to collect the data for each indicator are provided below.

Indicator Data Download Locations

Indicators Download Location Additional Information
Access to Mainstream Financial Services CFED Bank On

CFED Bank On

Step 1. Go to http://scorecard.prosperitynow.org/

Step 2. Select (1) state and city or (2) county in “Find Your Local Unbanked Data.”

Step 3. Download data by city, metropolitan area, or state. To download census tract-level data, view the “Interactive Map.” Enter an address and zip code and click on that point to see data estimates for any location and its surrounding census tract.
Access to Parks and Open Space Local Data Request, Parks GIS Data

Data Steps: Step 1. Use GIS software to open neighborhood and park layers. Step 2. Calculate area of each neighborhood and park. Step 3. Add park areas for each neighborhood. Step 4. Divide total park area for each neighborhood by the total area of each neighborhood.
Adult Educational Attainment US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table S1501: Educational Attainment 2012 ACS 5-year Estimates
Data Steps:
Step 1. Select Advanced Search, select "Show me All"
Step 2. Search for table in topic or table name.
Step 3. Under geographies, select Census tract - 140, state, and census tracts specific to city.
Step 4: Click Download, OK and open zip folder.
Step 5: Report data from Column CD: Total; Estimate; Percent high school graduate or higher.
Age of Housing US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: DP04 Selected Housing Characteristics 2012 ACS 5-Yr Estimates
Select columns:
BL: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Total housing units
CF: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Built 1970 to 1979
CJ: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Built 1960 to 1969
CN: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Built 1950 to 1959
CR: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Built 1940 to 1949
CV: Estimate; YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Built 1939 or earlier

Sum the YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT columns of years prior to 1980 and divide by YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT - Total housing units.
Blood Lead Levels in Children Local Data Request

Local Request to the State Environment or Health agency.
Some state and local health departments may be reluctant to share blood lead data at the address level due to privacy concerns. However, they may be willing to report aggregate data at the census block or tract level.
Business Retention US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: CB1200CZ11: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code
Table: CB1100CZ11: 2011 County Business Patterns: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code
Step 1. Record the number of establishments in current year (2012) using aggregate totals from all zip codes in the geographic area. i.e., city/county/MSA, desired.
Step 2. Record the number of establishments in the previous year (2011)
Step 3. Use Zip Code to ZCTA Crosswalk to determine appropriate ZCTAs for data collected in ZIP code form. See "Resources" for information re: using Zip to ZCTA crosswalks.
Step 4. Use the formula below to calculate the percent increase or decrease in the number of business establishments within the ZCTA.

(# of establishments current year 2012 – # of establishments in previous year 2011)/(# of establishments in current year 2012)

ALT Measure: Local economic data may provide a more refined (i.e., geospatial level) and accurate measure of business retention/loss.
Chronic School Absence U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, National Center for Education Statistics, Local Data Request

U.S. Census Shapefiles with U.S. Dept of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and local school data request Step 1. Download the most recent census block level Tiger/line shape file available using GIS software. Step 2. Select "census blocks" to create neighborhood layers for local jurisdiction. Step 3. Determine school locations using data available from the National Center for Education Statistics. Step 4. Input school locations and assign each school to a neighborhood based on census block. Step 5. Local Data Request: Obtain school level estimates for chronic absence from the school district or state board of education. Also request data on school student population. If state or school district does not compute or track this indicator, ask them to do the calculation. Step 6. Chronic absence for each neighborhood is the average of values for chronic absence schools assigned to the neighborhood. If data on school student population is available, compute a weighted average by weighting for school based on its student population.
Commute Mode Share US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: B08301 Means of Transportation to Work 2012 ACS 5-year estimates
Step 1: Select Geographies: Census Tract - 140, state, county, and census tracts within city.
Step 2: Click download to create a zip file
Step 3. Sum the values in the fields “Carpooled,” “Public Transportation (excluding taxicab),” “Bicycle,” and “Walked,” and divide by the value in the “Total” field.
Employment Rate US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table S2303: Work Status in the Past 12 Months 2012 ACS 5-year Estimates
Step 1. Select Geographies: Census tract 140
Step 2. Download
Step 3: To determine full-time employed, select column: Total; Estimate; USUAL HOURS WORKED - Usually worked 35 or more hours per week - 50 to 52 weeks
Excessive Housing Cost Burden US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: DP04 Selected Housing Characteristics 2012 ACS 5-Yr Estimates

The following columns are necessary to determine excessive housing cost burden:
Column B: GEO.id2 – which contains the census tract code
Column H: HC01_VC04 / Estimate; HOUSING OCCUPANCY - Occupied housing units
Column QJ: HC01_VC160 / Estimate; SELECTED MONTHLY OWNER COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME (SMOCAPI) - 35.0 percent or more
Column RT: HC01_VC171 / Estimate; SELECTED MONTHLY OWNER COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME (SMOCAPI) Housing unit without a mortgage - 35.0 percent or more
Column UN: HC01_VC197 / Estimate; GROSS RENT AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME (GRAPI) - 35.0 percent or more

To compute excessive housing cost burden, sum columns QJ, RT, and UN and divide the total by column H (Occupied housing units)
Food Desert USDA Food Access Research Atlas

USDA Food Deserts. Food Deserts

To determine HCAT data:
Download the Food Access Research Atlas Data File
Delete rows not relevant to jurisdiction
Column A provides census tract number
Column D identifies Low Income/Low Access census tracts at 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) areas (LILATracts_1And10) in dichotomous method (0=not a food desert, 1=food desert).
HCAT averages the number of census tracts without access to affordable or good-quality fresh food to determine the proportion of the neighborhood considered a food desert.
High School Graduation Rate Local Data Request

Local Data Request
Data commonly calculated by local school districts and often is available through the website of the local school district or state Department of Education.
Most graduation rates are published at the school level; schools are assigned to the neighborhood regardless of where students originate. The integration of data between traditional public schools vs charter schools varies across districts so charter school data, as well as data for students attending private or parochial schools may need to be calculated separately.
Household Transportation Costs HUD Location Affordability Index (LAI)

HUD's Location Affordability Index
Download Census block group data for specific MSA.
Delete any rows with census tracts not relevant to City.
Columns needed
Column A: blkgrp (the geographic ID)
Column T: hh_type1_t (percent of household income a typical regional household spends on transportation)
Local Business Vitality US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: CB1200CZ21: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code 2012 Business Patterns
Step 1. FactFinder 2, Click on Advanced Search, Show me All
Step 2. Under "Refine your search results" Enter CB1200CZ21: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code in the table section
Step 3: Under geographies, select 5-digit Zip Codes - 861, state, and zip codes either 1) specific to your jurisdiction or 2) for the entire state (the list will need to be culled to city specific zip codes once it is downloaded). Click "Add to your selection" and Close. [A list of local area zip codes may be found at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action]
Step 4. Click Download, Download, OK to create zip folder and open file.
Step 5. Sort data to find and record the
(a) number of establishments with 0-4 employees (code 212 in column G: "Employment Size of Establishment") for each zip code.
(b) total number of establishments (code 1 in column G: "Employment Size of Establishment") for each zip code.
Step 6: Divide the total number of establishments with 0-4 employees (code 212) by the total number of businesses (code 1) for each zip code
Step 7: Use Zip Code to ZCTA Crosswalk to determine appropriate ZCTAs for data collected in ZIP code form. See "Resources" for information re: using Zip to ZCTA crosswalks.
Long-Term Unemployment US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table S2303: WORK STATUS IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
Data Steps:
Step 1. Click on "Advanced Search", Click “Show me all.”
Step 2. Under "Refine your search results", Enter S2303: WORK STATUS IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS.
Step 3. In Geographies (left hand menu), select "Census tract - 140, state, county, and census tracts specific to the jurisdiction. Add to selection and close.
Step 4. Select table S2303 Work Status in the Past 12 months 2012 ACS 5-year estimates.
Step 5. Download, Download, and OK to build file folder.
Step 6. Record the percent imputed of “Work status in the past 12 months for the population 16 years and over”
Low Birth Weight Local Data Request

Local Data Request
Step 1. Contact the state or local vital record agency to determine if they estimate and publish low-weight birth rates for the desired geography (ZIP, ZCTA or smaller). A list of vital record offices for all 50 states is available from the Center for Disease Control (CDC): click here

Step 2. If the agency does not report low birth weight, request the following data to do the computation:
(1) Annual count of live births at lowest available geographic level (at least ZIP or ZCTA).
(2) Annual count of births with low birth weight (live births where baby is less than 2,500 grams).

Step 3. Divide the number of low birth weight births by the number of live births for each geographic area (e.g., ZIP or ZCTA)

Step 4. If data is at zip level, use crosswalk to convert to ZCTA.
Motor Vehicle Collisions U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) AADAT GIS Shapefile

U.S. Census Shapefiles with Local Data Request and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Variable should include both fatalities and injuries resulting from motor vehicle collisions.
Step 1. Request motor vehicle collision injury data for the past five years from local law enforcement agency. Information is generally recorded in police accident reports (PAR), which include information about the circumstances of the collision, the location, the parties involved, and the injuries. Alternatively, comprehensive data on non-fatal injuries are maintained by State transportation, health, or public safety agencies. As necessary, supplement data on motor vehicle collision fatalities from FARS*. One record for each fatality or person injured should be created with the precise location of the collision.
Step 2. If the location of the motor vehicle collision is not already geo-coded, geocode location to determine appropriate census block.
Step 3. Use GIS software to download the most recent census block level Tiger/line shapefile.
Step 4. Select "census blocks" to create neighborhood layers.
Step 5. Assign injuries to census blocks.
Step 6. Divide the count of injuries in each census block by the census block population and the number of years of injury data (this produces a census block level annual rate of injuries).
Step 7. Multiple the census level annual rate of injuries determined in step 6 by 100,000. This provides data comparable to hp 2020 indicators and targets.
Offsite Alcohol Outlets US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: CB1200CZ21: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code 2012 Business Patterns
Data Collection Steps:
Step 1. FactFinder 2, Click on Advanced Search, Show me All
Step 2. Under "Refine your search results" Enter CB1200CZ21: ZIP Code Business Statistics: Total for Zip Code in the table section
Step 3: Under Geographies (left hand menu), select 5-digit Zip Codes - 861, state, and zip codes either 1) specific to your jurisdiction or 2) for the entire state (the list will need to be culled to city specific zip codes once it is downloaded). Click "Add to your selection" and Close. [A list of local area zip codes may be found at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action]
Step 4: Under Industry Codes (lower left hand menu), select Individual codes, 445310: Beer, wine and liquor stores
Step 5. Click Download, Download, OK to create zip folder and open file.
Step 6. Sort data to find total number of industry 445310 establishments (code 1 in column G: Employment Size of Establishments) in Zip codes within the jurisdiction.
Step 7: Use Zip Code to ZCTA Crosswalk to determine appropriate ZCTAs for data collected in ZIP code form. See "Resources" for information re: using Zip to ZCTA crosswalks.
Step 8: Use the following formula to determine the number of alcohol outlets per 10,000 people:
[total number of industry 445310 establishments] / [ZCTA population / 10,000]
Pedestrian Connectivity EPA Smart Location Database

EPA’s Smart Location Database (SLD)
D3 (Design) variables from the SLD are used to determine pedestrian connectivity. D3 variables measure urban design in terms of street network density (D3a…) and street intersection density (D3b…) by orientation (automobile, multimodal, or pedestrian). The HCI utilizes the D3b variables which summarize total intersection density, weighted to reflect connectivity for pedestrian and bicycle travel. Although intersection density is often used as an indicator of walkable urban design, it is important to note that the source data used in the EPA Smart Location Database (i.e., NAVTEQ) provides no information regarding the presence or quality of sidewalks.
Step 1. Use GIS software to download the EPA Smart Location Database nationwide shapefile
Step 2. Cull data for specific City's census blocks
Step 3. Report data from Column B (GEOID10) – this column provides the geographic ID (census block FIPS)
Step 4: Report summed data from Columns CP (D3bpo3) and CQ (D3bpo4)– these columns provide the number of pedestrian-oriented intersections summed for each census block group where the number of intersection legs are equal to three and where the number of legs are greater than three.
Preschool Enrollment US Census Data: Factfinder2, Local Data Request

U.S. Census Block group, Local
Table/Topic: School Enrollment (Table S1401) Table/Topic: School Enrollment (Table S1401)
Although there may be more accurate local data for this indicator, the U.S. Census tracks school enrollment for 3 and 4 year olds which can be used as a good alternative.
Data Collection Steps:
Step 1. FactFinder 2, Click on Advanced Search, Show me All
Step 2. Under "Refine your search results" Enter “School Enrollment” under topic/ table.
Step 3. Under Geographies (left hand menu), select Census Tract- 140, state, county(ies) specific to your jurisdiction, and All census tracts within county (ies). Click "Add to your selection" and Close.
Step 4. Select Table S1401 2012 5-year ACS
Step 5. Click Download, Download, OK to create zip folder and open file.
Step 6. Select column BF titled “Total; Estimate; Percent of age group enrolled in school -- - 3 and 4 years”
Step 7. Convert percent value to decimal value for upload to CSV data file.
Preventable Hospitalizations Local Data Request

Local/State Data Request:
Step 1. Request age-adjusted preventable hospitalization rates from City or State health department at a Zip, ZCTA or alternative smaller geographical census unit.
Step 2. If the health department does not estimate the rates or cannot estimate preventable hospitalization rates at the ZIP, ZCTA or smaller census geographic area, request annual counts of hospitalization discharges for a three to five year period. Assess preventable discharges according to the set of Prevention Quality Indicators (PQIs) used by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Proximity to Brownfield Sites U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) collects data on active and non-active brownfield and superfund sites. Data was obtained through a local data request to MPCA. Step 1. Identify "Active" column and select all currently active sites. Step 2. Identify "Interest" column. All sites labeled "VIC" or "Petroleum Brownfield" are Brownfield sites. Step 3. Map locations of Brownfield sites using latitude and longitude information in ArcGIS. Step 4. Create 500ft buffers around Brownfield or Superfund sites using buffer tool in ArcGIS. Step 5. Use spatial join tool in ArcGIS with census block centroids as the "target features" layer and Brownfields buffers as the "join features" layer. Use JOIN_ONE_TO_ONE as the "join operation" and use the COMPLETELY_WITHIN match option. Step 6. Export resulting attribute table which included census blocks within 500ft of a Brownfield site (indicator value of 1) and census blocks not within 500 ft of a Brownfield site (indicator value of 0).
Proximity to Superfund Sites U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)

U.S. Census with Center for International Earth Science Information Network Data Data Steps: Step 1. Use GIS software to download the most recent census block level Tiger/line shapefile. Step 2. Select "census blocks" to create neighborhood layers. Step 3. Input location of NPL Superfund sites at CIESIN. Step 4. Calculate non-weighted centroid for each census block. Step 5. Place 1 km circular buffer around each site. Step 6. If buffer contains census tract centroid the block is coded with a ‘1’, otherwise the block is coded as ‘0’.
Public Assisted Households US Census Data: Factfinder2

US Census Factfinder Step 1. Go to http://factfinder2.census.gov/ and select "Advanced Search, Show Me All." Step 2. In the "Refine your search results" box, enter Table DP03 Selected Economic Characteristics under "topic or table name" and your State and select "Go." Step 3. From "geographies" select Census tract (140) for the county in which your City is located. Step 4: From the resulting table, select the following columns: Column GV: Total Households Column JT: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Column KB: Cash Public Assistance Column KJ: Food Stamps/SNAP Step 5: Sum Columns JT, KB, and KJ and divide by Column GV to determine the percent of households within the Census tract receiving public assistance.
Reading Proficiency Local Data Request

Data Request to the Local School District(s)
Depending on the school district, testing for reading proficiency is done at either 3rd or 4th grade. The percent of students meeting or exceeding proficiency is calculated by dividing the number of students who met or exceeded “proficient” reading levels by the total number of students taking the test.

Step 1. Request reading proficiency data per school or census tract from the local school district(s).
Step 2. Assign school(s) to census tract/neighborhood regardless of where students attending the school reside.
Residential Mobility US Census Data: Factfinder2

U.S. Census FactFinder
Table B07001: Geographical Mobility in the Past Year by Age for Current Residence in the United States
Step 1. Select Advanced Search, Show me All
Step 2. Under "refine your search results, topic or table" Enter Table B07001: Geographical Mobility in the Past Year by Age for Current Residence in the United States
Step 3. Under Geographies, select Census tract - 140, state, county, and city specific census tracts. Add to selection
Step 4. Click download. When file is complete, click "Download" to receive zip folder with data
Step 5. Select Column B (Id1) for geographic FIPS Code (census tract), Column D (Estimate; Total) for total households in Census Tract, and Column AJ (Estimate; Total: - Same house 1 year ago)
Step 6. Divide Column A (Estimate; Total - Same house 1 year ago by Column D (Estimate; Total) to determine the percent of households in the same home as the previous year. Record result for each census tract.
Residential Proximity to Traffic U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) AADAT GIS Shapefile

Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) AADAT GIS Shapefile data collection steps. Step 1. Download the AADAT GIS Shapefile. Step 2. Create 100, 200, and 300 meter buffers around census block centroids. Step 3. Use spatial join with block buffers and the "target features" and traffic volume as the "join features" layer. Use JOIN_ONE_TO_MANY as the "join operation" and use "INTERSECT match operation. This process joins the traffic volume information of each roach to each census block buffer it intersects. Step 4. Export resulting attribute tables which listed each census block and the corresponding traffic volume information of each road it intersects. Step 5. Assign 100 meter block buffers with an AADAT above 30,000 a value of "1", assign 200 meter block betters with an AADAT above 75,000 with a value of "1", and assign 300 meter block buffers with an AADAT above 150,000 a value of "1". All other blocks were assigned "0". Step 6. Consolidate all blocks and their corresponding values of "1" or "0" indicating its proximity to traffic.
School Proximity to Traffic U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, National Center for Education Statistics, FHA Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS)

Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) AADAT GIS Shapefile data, National Center for Educational Statistics and Minneapolis School website data were used to caulcuate this indicator.
Step 1. Geocode school addresses listed in the National Center for Educational Statistics and Minneapolis Public Schools websites.
Step 2. Download the AADAT GIS Shapefile.
Step 3. Create 100, 200, and 300 meter buffers around schools.
Step 4. Use spatial join with school buffers and the "target features" and traffic volume as the "join features" layer. Use JOIN_ONE_TO_MANY as the "join operation" and use "INTERSECT match operation. This process joins the traffic volume information of each road to each school buffer it intersects.
Step 5. Export resulting attribute tables which listed each school and the corresponding traffic volume information of each road it intersects.
Step 6. Assign 100 meter school buffers with an AADAT above 30,000 a value of "1", assign 200 meter school betters with an AADAT above 75,000 with a value of "1", and assign 300 meter school buffers with an AADAT above 150,000 a value of "1". All other schools were assigned "0".
Step 7. Use ArcGIS to assign each school to a neighborhood.
Step 8.Divided the number of school in close proximity to traffic (i.e. assigned a value of “1”) by the total number of school in that neighborhood.
School Readiness Scores Local Data Request

Data Request to the Local School District(s)
Although data are collected via in-school assessments, the practice of collecting the data is not universal and there are a variety of variety of assessment tools employed. Comparison of the data may be difficult in cities with multiple school districts if the data are not collected in a uniform manner.
Step 1. Request school readiness data from the local school district(s) at the school or census tract level.
Step 2. Assign school(s) data/score to census tract/neighborhood regardless of where students attending the school reside.
Toxic Releases from Facilities U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)/Census TIGER Shapefile Data Steps: Step 1. Use GIS software to download the most recent census block level Tiger/line shapefile. Step 2. Select "census blocks" to create neighborhood layers. Step 3. Calculate non-weighted centroid for each census block. Step 4.

Access TRI Facilities data here

Step 5. Input TRI facilities into GIS program using: • Facility Latitude • Facility Longitude • Pref Latitude (use this over Facility Latitude if populated) • Pref Longitude (use this over Facility Longitude if populated) Step 6. Place 1km circular buffer around each facility. Step 7. If facility buffer contains/touches census block centroid assign a value of 1 to the block, otherwise assign a value of 0.
Transit Accessibility EPA Smart Location Database

EPA’s Smart Location Database (SLD)
The D4 (Transit Measures) variables from the SLD measure transit availability, proximity, frequency, and density. Two data sources are
used to calculate transit metrics. Transit service data from more than 200 transit agencies across the United States, which includes the geographic location of all transit stops as well as service schedules for all routes that serve those stops; and point location data for all existing fixed-guideway transit service in the U.S.
Data Collection:
Step 1. Use GIS software to download the EPA Smart Location Database nationwide shapefile
Step 2. Cull data for specific City's census block groups.
Step 3. Report data from Column GEOID10 – this column provides the geographic ID (census block group FIPS)
Step 4: Report data from Column D4c – this column provides Transit Accessibility data (i.e., the aggregate frequency of transit service per hour within a quarter-mile of the block group boundary during hours of evening peak use).
Note -- this data can be extracted to excel as necessary from GIS software.
Travel Time to Work US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table: S0801 Commuting Characteristics by Sex 2012 ACS 5-year Estimates
Select Column: Total Mean travel time to work for each census tract.
Tree Cover U.S. Census TIGER Shapefiles, National Land Cover Database 2011 (NLCD2011)

U.S. Census Shapefile / National Land Cover Database 2011
Data Collection Steps:
Step 1. Use GIS software to open the most recent census Tiger/line shapefile.
Step 2. Select "census blocks" to create neighborhood layers.
Step 3. Download the NLCD 2011 USFS Tree Canopy Cartographic Layer [NOTE: this is a national database with a long download.]
Step 4. Overlay the NLCD .img file with the TIGER shapefiles [Note the NLCD data may need to be re-projected or georeferenced to get it to align correctly].
Step 5. Use the spatial analyst > extract by mask tool to select the portions of the NLCD .img file which lie within the boundary of the census block (or neighborhood). This will produce a new .img file specifically for city making it unnecessary to process the entire nationwide dataset.
Step 6. Use the conversion > raster to polygon tool to convert the resulting .img file to a shapefile based on the “value” field in the .img file. This creates a shapefile with polygons for each of the raster cells. Title this file TC_polygon. The percentage of the each polygon that is covered by tree canopy, in values from 0-100, will be in the GRIDCODE field.
Step 7. Use the dissolve tool on the resulting shapefile to consolidate cells with the same value.
Step 8. Use an analysis > overlay > spatial join toll to join TC_Polygon and the census block or neighborhood shapefile. Use TC_polygon as the target field and the neighborhood/census block shapefule as the join field and select JOIN_ONE_TO_MANY in the Join operation menu. Name the output TC_nhood. TC_nhood will be a new shapefile with the neighborhood name or ID number appended to each polygon from the TC_polygon file.
Step 9. Create a new field in the TC_nhood attribute table titled AREA_AC. Right-click the heading of this field, select Calculate Geometry…, and select Area in the Property menu and Acres in the Units menu.
Step 10. Create another new field in the TC-nhood attribute table titled COVER. Right-click the heading of this field, select Field Calculator… and set this field equal to (GRIDCODE * AREA_AC) / 100
Step 11. Use the summarize command to get a table with a sum of COVER and AREA_AC by neighborhood.
Step 12. In the resulting table, use the field calculator to divide COVER by AREA_AC. This provides the percent of the neighborhood with tree cover.
Vacancy Rates US Census Data: Factfinder2

Table DP04 Selected Housing Characteristics 2012 ACS 5-year estimates Step 1. Select geographies: Census Tract 140, state, county, census tracts for city Step 2. Download file Step 3. Record data from column N: HC03_VC05/Percent; HOUSING OCCUPANCY - Vacant housing units
Violent Crime US Census Data: Factfinder2, Minneapolis Police Department

Minneapolis Police Department monthly neighborhood crime report and U.S. Census Data.

Step 1. Download 2013 monthly reports in excel format.
Step 2. Aggregate monthly reports by summing crimes per month per neighborhood.
Step 3. Obtain 2010 neighborhood populations from U.S. Census.
Step 4. Divide number of crimes by neighborhood population, then divide by 1,000 to obtain rate per 1,000 people.

*NOTE: Violent crimes include criminal homicide, forcible rape (or attempt), armed robbery, aggravated assault, assault with intent to commit murder.
Voter Participation US Census Data: Factfinder2, City of Minneapolis Elections and Voter Services

A data request would be required to access information necessary to calculate this indicator.

U.S. Census data, voter information from the City of Minneapolis Elections and Voter Services, 2013 precincts ArcGIS shapefile, and ArcGIS Census block shapefile were used to calculate voter participation. GIS shapefiles are maintained through the City of Minneapolis GIS office. Voter information is collected by precinct. Precinct data needs to be approximated to U.S. Census Blocks. Information on "total ballots cast" and "registered voters" from Elections and Voter Services is used for this indicator. Total ballots cast is the total number of people who voted at the polls and people who voted by absentee ballot.

Step 1. Join the precincts document with the Precincts_2013 shapefile in ArcGIS. This process joins number of ballots cast in each precinct to the precinct shapefile.
Step 2. Use spatial join tool with blocks as the “target features” and precincts as the “join features” layer, used JOIN_ONE_TO_MANY and the “join operation” used the HAVE_THIER_CENTER_IN match option.
Step 3. Export resulting attribute table to excel.
Step 4. Determine the voter eligible precinct population by summing block voter age populations in each precinct.
Step 5. Divide the number of ballots cast in each precinct by the voter eligible population to determine the proportion of voting eligible population who voted in the last election.
Step 6. Assign the proportion from each precinct to each block in that precinct.
Walkability EPA Smart Location Database

The Walkability Score for the HCI and HCAT was developed specifically for the HCTI project using data from the EPA Smart Location Database. Alternatively, some local jurisdictions may compute walkability scores for their communities or utilize a Proprietary Score such as StreetSmart Walk Score or Maponic Walkability.