Achieving Health & Wellness:Building Physically Active Communities

Through Neighborhood Cohesion

Presentation by Ana Espinosa Rydman,

Maya Gillingham-Chung, Rachel Poulain,

and Belinda Wong

Master of Public Health Program

San Francisco State University

What was our project about?

Being healthy

Being active

And your neighborhood

What is Physical Activity?

Volunteerism

Civic participation

Give and take

Trust

Community communication

What is Social Capital?

Moving your body to whatever extent you are capable of

Purpose of this Community Health Assessment

A Community Health Assessment means doing research with people in the community to find answers

to questions about health

Our purpose: To improve individual health status and community health & well-being by

increasing levels of physical activity and social capital

Health Indicators Health indicators measure diseases in an area and tell you about the health & wellness of a community

For example in North Oakland, African Americans have 1.5 – 2 times higher rates of the following health conditions as compared to Alameda county: Coronary Heart Disease & Stroke Diabetes Low birth weight Asthma (all ages)

(Source Alameda County Public Health Department- CAPE Unit www.co.alameda.ca.us/publichealth)

Agency Descriptions

Greenlining InstituteJohn Yuasa, Health Policy Director

M. Robinson Baker YMCATerre Logsdon, Program Director

What do you like about the MRB YMCA?

Community DescriptionNW Oakland, CA, US Census tract 4014Known as Ghost Town Population 4,76564% African American, 16% Latinos, 9% API, 7% WhiteAverage age 30.1 years82% rent10% unemployment73% of pop. makes <35KSupervisory District 5Former area of commercial enterprise named Golden Gate District

Time for a mini surveyEverybody up!

If you like pizza reach for the sky!

If you don’t like pizza do the twist!

How many of you have ever taken a survey?

Methodology

Why Survey?

Ability to reach more peopleBetter response rate

Provide better coverage of a more representative sample

Availability of survey interviewers

Methodology

Lack of Training

English-only interviews

Door-to-door survey interviews (n=46)Nine 2-person teams15-20 minutes to completeIncentives (Starbucks coupon, YMCA of the East Bay family day pass, raffle entry)

Affects:

Internal and external validity

Reliability

Study Administration Study Limitations

Methodology

Are community residents doing physical activity?

Are there barriers to using the MRB YMCA?

Do residents know about the MRB programs?

How do residents view neighborhood conditions?

We did a survey with four main questions:

Findings & Analysis

Are neighborhood residents doing physical activity?

Demographic Census Study

n=46

Ethnicity/ Race: AA

64% 64%

API 9% 11%

Caucasian 7% 7%

Latino 16% 5%

Mixed/other 4% 14%

Age (Seniors) 9% 20%

Years in comm. 14.6

Gender M=49%

F=51%

M=33%

F=67%

Household size 2.99 3.4 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Light Moderate Vigorous

Respondents(n=41)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Not much

Level ofExercise

Now it’s your turn…

How much do you exercise?Not muchSometimesA lot

Findings & Analysis

Are there barriers to using the MRB YMCA?

21%

79%

Yes, cost is prohibitive

No, cost is not prohibitive

12%0%

24%

64%

Morning

Lunchtime

Afternoon

Evening

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

18-24 (n=8)

25-44 (n=19)

45-64 (n=10)

65+ (n=9)

Yes,safetyis abarrierNo,safetyis not abarrier

Findings & Analysis

Do community residents know about the MRB YMCA programs and services?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Sports Programs

Swimming Classes

Youth summer camp

Rec Swim

Dance/Aerobics

After school programs

Childcare

Cultural Arts

Computer lab

Group mentoring

Adults who knowabout the program

How do residents view neighborhood conditions?

Neighborhood Friendliness

62%

25%

11%2%

Good to Excellent

Fair

Poor

Don't know

Recommendations

MRB YMCA Awareness Campaign

Create an MRB YMCA newsletter On services the MRB YMCA offers On community health factors and prevention

Utilize face-to-face outreach Reinforces feeling of friendliness that already exists Builds social capital (trust, civic participation, give and take,

volunteerism, and community communication).

What would you want to see in the newsletter?

Conclusion

People Creating Connections