Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone, delivers a keynote speech at the 2012 PLACE MATTERS National Conference in Washington, DC.

Dr. Howard Frumkin, Dean of the University of Washington School of Public Health, speaks on making healthy spaces at the PLACE MATTERS 2012 National Conference in Washington, DC.

Dr. Brian Smedley of the Joint Center's Health Policy Institute presents the results of a series of PLACE MATTERS community reports at the 2012 PLACE MATTERS National Conference in Washington, DC.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute and its PLACE MATTERS Initiative will convene a National Health Equity Conference in Washington on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, to spotlight effective community-based strategies that address all kinds of barriers to good health faced by low-income communities and communities of color.

The conference, with the theme “PLACE MATTERS: Models of Action, Innovation & Collaboration”  will assemble key stakeholders, including grassroots leaders, elected officials, researchers, public health practitioners, policymakers and community organizers.  It will take place at the Renaissance Hotel, 999 Ninth Street NW, Washington.

Download the full press release below.

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 its Place Matters Teams  are pleased to add to the existing knowledge base with this report, Place Matters for Health: 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 summary of our analyses of the social, economic, and environmental conditions that exist in selected PLACE MATTERS communities and documents their relationship to the health status of residents of these communities.

The overall pattern in our series of Community Health Equity Reports, as this summary makes clear, suggests that we need to tackle the structures and systems that create and perpetuate inequality to fully close racial and ethnic health gaps.   Accordingly, because the Joint Center seeks not only to document these inequities, we are committed to helping remedy them.  

Through our PLACE MATTERS initiative, which is generously supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we are working with leaders in 24 communities around the country to identify and address social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health.  We look forward to continuing to work with leaders these and other communities to ensure that every child, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or place of residence, can enjoy the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, and productive life.

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 is pleased to add to the existing knowledge base with this report, Place Matters for Health in Bernalillo County: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, A Report on Health Inequities in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.  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 Bernalillo County and documents their relationship to the health status of the county’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.

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.   Accordingly, because the Joint Center seeks not only to document these inequities, we are committed to helping remedy them.  

Through our PLACE MATTERS initiative, which is generously supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we are working with leaders in 24 communities around the country to identify and address social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health.  We look forward to continuing to work with leaders in Bernalillo County and other communities to ensure that every child, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or place of residence, can enjoy the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, and productive life.

Our full report is available for download below. English- and Spanish-language executive summaries and an informational brochure are also available.

As a result of the racial and economic segregation of Cook County neighborhoods, life expectancy varies along neighborhood lines, according to a study by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The study found that residents of neighborhoods with an annual median income above $53,000 live almost 14 years longer than those with median incomes below $25,000.

Those with lower income tend to live in less safe neighborhoods with less access to fresh food and quality health care. Of course the segregation splits the city in half. The census statistics also showed that more than a quarter of Cook County census tracts have experienced persistent poverty, "meaning that at least 20% of households have been in poverty for two decades.

Read more at Chicagoist.

It’s been well documented that in the U.S. poverty helps fuels poor health — obesity, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses. And that makes sense, given that more money means better access to quality health care and the ability to afford healthier foods and obtain a gym membership to work out.

But a recent study conducted about people living in Cook County, Illinois, suggests that income doesn’t always explain racial health disparities. According to the report Place Matters for Health in Cook County: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, researchers from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Study in Washingtonn D.C. found that where you live, especially if your area is racially segregated, is a pretty good predictor of how healthy you will be and how long will you live.

Read more at BET.

Residential segregation has increased by income in 27 out of 30 of America’s major metropolises, according to an analysis conducted by the Pew Research Center.

The analysis finds that 28% of lower-income households in 2010 were located in a majority lower-income census tract, up from 23% in 1980, and that 18% of upper- income households were located in a majority upper-income census tract, up from 9% in 1980.

At the same time, middle income neighborhoods across the U.S. shrank as income inequalities grew.

Despite these trends, neighborhood segregation by income did not outpace that of race segregation, which remains one of the most pervasive residential segregation determinants.

Of all segregated U.S. cities, it’s likely that Chicago reigns supreme, and those differences translate into life and death inequalities.

As The Atlantic highlights a new report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which found that people living in Chicago neighborhoods with a median annual income higher than $53,000 have a life expectancy almost 14 years longer than those living in Chicago communities with average median incomes below $25,000. In Chicago, those with the lowest income are also minorities. The city’s historic segregation of income and race thus serve as proxies for health outcomes in life.

Read more at Smithsonian.com.

We’ve written about how Chicago’s high murder rate is a legacy of segregation. But it’s not just dangerous to live in a poor neighborhood. According to a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, it’s also unhealthy. The study looked at the differences in life expectancies between people in, say, Old Town and people in West Garfield Park. Even though the neighborhoods are only a few miles apart, the differences in life expectancy are as severe as the differences between First World and Third World countries.

Read more at NBC5 Chicago.