New Report Provides Valuable Insights about the Local Black/African American Population
“Making the Invisible Visible” will help the community improve equity for marginalized people.
Santa Cruz, Calif. – United Way and Applied Survey Research (ASR), together with the NAACP, Black Health Matters and the Santa Cruz County Black Coalition for Justice and Racial Equity Advisors, have just released a data snapshot addressing the health of Black/African American people in Santa Cruz County. “Making the Invisible Visible” includes local data that builds on the Community Assessment Project and shares data on the social determinants of health impacting this historically underserved population. These include economic stability; education; health and health care; neighborhood and the built environment; and social and community context. The data for local Black/African American residents are compared with that of the county’s Hispanic/Latino and White residents.
In August 2020, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution designating racism as a public health crisis. Using this data snapshot as a starting point, additional research and data collection are planned for publishing a more in-depth report in Spring 2021. The resulting insights will help local agencies, organizations, and the community understand how to address the inequities facing marginalized people, improve their well-being, and thus make living conditions more equitable for everyone.
“We know that what gets measured gets done,” said Keisha Browder, executive director of United Way of Santa Cruz County. “Our goal is to use the collected data as an opportunity to partner with local elected officials and community leaders. Together, we can begin to address the disparities outlined in our county’s declaration that racism is a public health crisis. This is our moment to include the diverse and vibrant voices of the Black community as we work together to create a healthy, thriving, and safe Santa Cruz County for all of us.”
Susan Brutschy, president of ASR, said, “At Applied Survey Research, we appreciate the opportunity to tell a data-based story of Black/African American well-being guided by the most recent Community Assessment Project and the Black Health Matters team. We now have a chance to seek additional data where possible and to continue developing improved data. This will help us tell a more robust story, make it more meaningful, and take effective action. We can do that by facilitating equity-based collective action.”
Next steps will focus on diving deeper and making meaning of the data, pursuing the data development agenda together, and then using the data to drive change. By working together, the community can best determine how to change inequities revealed by the data.
Valuable information is revealed.
The report states that, although the Black/African American population in California is 7%, here in Santa Cruz County it is only 1.7%. However, the local percentage has nearly doubled since 2013.
Regarding economic stability, the report found that the median Black family income is $78,381. For Hispanic/Latino, it’s $77,307; and for White it’s $123,248 (latest figures from 2019).
It’s estimated that 54% of the Black/African American population completed high school or greater, compared with 72% of the White population.
Data from Santa Cruz High School’s 11th grade (2018-19) showed that 38% of Black/African American students said they experienced chronic sadness or hopelessness. For Hispanic/Latino and White students, the percentage was 32% for each group.
Copies of “Making the Invisible Visible”, which has more detailed information, are available here.
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About United Way of Santa Cruz County – United Way of Santa Cruz County ignites the community to give, advocate and volunteer so our youth succeed in school and life, our residents are healthy, and our families are financially independent. The mission of the United Way is to improve the lives of the people of Santa Cruz County by convening the community to identify and seek solutions to their needs and by efficiently raising funds for the human care programs we support. We are an organization of community-based volunteers, and we carry out our mission guided by the principles of excellence, empowerment, leadership, equal opportunity, and partnership. https://www.unitedwaysc.org/
About ASR: Applied Survey Research (ASR) is a social research organization helping people build better communities since 1980. Serving the western United States, ASR helps communities measure and improve quality of life while helping organizations measure and improve the impact of their services. Headquartered in Watsonville, Calif., it has branch offices in Santa Clara and Sacramento. Visit www.appliedsurveyresearch.org
About the NAACP - Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons
About Black Health Matters – Black Health Matters Initiative focuses needed attention and community partnership to address the social determinants of health in our local Black community. We lead this effort through the arts and culture, which speak to the tradition of gathering, of sharing, and our human need to have fresh air, community, and joy at the heart of a healthy life. In addition to being high-risk for COVID-19 infection, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reports serious and negative effects “across different areas of [Black] people’s lives, including...with household finances, jobs, health care, housing, transportation, caregiving, and well-being.” https://tanneryworlddance.com/countyparks/
About Santa Cruz County Black Coalition for Justice and Racial Equity Advisors – The Santa Cruz County Black Coalition for Justice and Racial Equity Advisors is comprised of local members of the Black Community working together to advocate for equity policies that promote justice in the areas of education, health, economics, public safety and well-being.
About the Social Determinants of Health – The World Health Organization defines the Social Determinants of Health as the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems.
The SDH have an important influence on health inequities—the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. In countries at all levels of income, health and illness follow a social gradient: the lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the health. For more information, visit https://www.who.int/