2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

334 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
Table 7.1.2. North Lawndale, In-Type Comparison
Tract 291800
Type 2-A, Seniors
and Centers
Change in value (RSI, 1990–2006) 33% 100%
Median income $18,560 $17,000
Vacant units 29.2% 19.0%
Social capital 3.72 3.95
Unemployment rate 37.0% 20.9%
Turnover (% moved in past five years) 55.2% 30.8%
Educational attainment: no high school diploma 69.1% 42.6%
Low-Income neighborhoods (as identified by the models developed in the
other phases of the DNT project). An initial comparison (summarized
in table 7.1.2) reveals that this tract is actually trailing its peers on a
few important dimensions, including employment, educational attainment,
and, to a lesser extent, social capital 14 —all of which are drivers of
improvement in place. This information can then be used to prioritize
interventions and address these particular areas.
The typology can also be used to go one step further and find out
how similar neighborhoods have been dealing with these issues. In
particular, the typology can be used from the bottom up to find the
neighborhoods that are most similar to a particular place (in the case of
the North Lawndale neighborhood discussed above, several neighborhoods
on the West and South Side of Chicago, as well as some communities
in South Dallas), see which ones have successfully dealt with the
same development issues (in this case, unemployment and educational
attainment), and identify the interventions that can best be adapted
and applied. 15
An additional important use for the typology is that it can help analysts
think strategically about the trajectory in which a neighborhood is
headed and what kind of place its residents would like it to be. Consider,
for instance, neighborhoods in type 6 (Coming Attractions). Based on
the dynamics of change identified using the transition matrix, we know
that these areas can evolve in several directions and become very different
types of places. By comparing the characteristics of these different
types, we can identify areas of intervention that would help push the
neighborhood in the desired direction. For instance, if the residents of a
type-6 neighborhood determined that they would like their community