PLACE MATTERS for health in important ways, according to a growing body of research. Differences in neighborhood conditions powerfully predict who is healthy, who is sick, and who lives longer. And because of patterns of residential segregation, these differences are the fundamental causes of health inequities among different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Orleans Parish PLACE MATTERS team are very pleased to add to the existing knowledge base with this report, Place Matters for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All. The report, supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health and written in conjunction with the Center on Human Needs at the Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, provides a comprehensive analysis of the range of social, economic, and environmental conditions in Orleans Parish and documents their relationship to the health status of the Parish’s residents.

The study finds that social, economic, and environmental conditions in low-income and non-white neighborhoods make it more difficult for people in these neighborhoods to live healthy lives. Among the study’s key findings are that life expectancy in the Parish varies by as much as 25 years depending on the zip code. Zip codes with the lowest life expectancy tend to have a higher percentage of people of color and low-income residents. Community-level risk factors, such as high concentrations of people living in poverty, overcrowded households, households without a vehicle, and vacant housing are among the factors that predict health inequalities in the Parish.

The overall pattern in this report – and those of others that the Joint Center has conducted with other PLACE MATTERS communities – suggests that we need to tackle the structures and systems that create and perpetuate inequality to fully close racial and ethnic health gaps.

Download the summary here or the full report below.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of how neighborhood differences in a range of social, economic and environmmental conditions are linked to health outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley. It finds that the conditions in low-income and non-white neighborhoods make it more difficut for people in these neighborhoods to live healthy lives.

This is a summary. The full report is here.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of how neighborhood differences in a range of social, economic and environmmental conditions are linked to health outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley. It finds that the conditions in low-income and non-white neighborhoods make it more difficut for people in these neighborhoods to live healthy lives.

A summary document is also available in English or Spanish.

In this edition:

"Creating Pathways to a More Robust Citizen Engagement" by Ralph B. Everett, Esq.

"A Conversation with New Institute Co-Chairs" - Gina E. Wood interviews Dianne M. Pinderhughes, Ph.D. and the Honorable Kurt L. Schmoke, Esq.

"Bold Policies to Achieve Economic Justice" by William Darity, Jr., Ph.D., and Darrick Hamilton, Ph.D.

"Voter Suppression and the Assault on Minority Voting Rights" by David Bositis, Ph.D.

"Separate Spaces, Risky Places: A Price the Nation Can’t Afford" by Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D.

"America Healing ‘Anchored’ with Leading Social Change Organizations" by Kathy Reincke and Alice Warner-Mehlhorn

In this edition:

"The Great Recession, Jobless Recoveries and Black Workers" by Sylvia Allegretto, Ph.D. and Steven Pitts, Ph.D.

"Opportunity to Remedy a Health System in Crisis: Increasing and Diversifying America’s Health Professions" by Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. and Ilana S. Mittman, Ph.D., M.S.

"The Online Job Search Opportunities and Challenges for Minorities" by Ying Li, Ph.D.

"The BP Oil Disaster and Its Disproportionate Impacts on Minorities and Communities of Color" by John Joplin, Esq. and Reilly Morse, Esq.

"Black Voters Could Be Pivotal in 2010 Midterms" by David A. Bositis, Ph.D.

"Green Jobs and Climate Solutions" by Van Jones and Jorge Madrid

"Strategies to Re-Establish Prosperity in America" by Robert B. Reich