The NYC Dept of Health has created neighborhood-based community health profiles as a tool to advocate for our neighborhoods.

The New York City Community Health Profiles capture the health of 59 community districts across the city. The most comprehensive reports of neighborhood health ever produced, they look beyond traditional health measures to define a broader picture of neighborhood health including conditions such as housing quality, air pollution, and types of food accessible. Community Health Profiles provide valuable information on significant health issues and can serve as a critical resource for improving health, community by community, and marks a step towards participatory public health.

These profiles are such a great resource to use in ABE and HSE classes. They are visually engaging and use a range of different visual representations, including infographics to provide data on the communities where students live and work. In addition to things students might associate with health like obesity, diabetes and asthma, these profiles include other measures – like poverty, unemployment, access to health care, substance abuse, social and economic conditions, educational attainment and incarceration. They also offer comparisons data for the borough, city and other neighborhoods.