community profile assignment example

AREA RESEARCH REPORT

Middlesbrough

` Profile of a regenerating community `

               Middlesbrough                                                                   University of Durham

               Borough Council                                                 Community & Youth Work Studies Unit

“Now the thrill

of the lottery

has died down,

tickets have become

a shopping list item

like the tins of Chum

or cheese, not

kissed for luck,

as the winner, but

bought blindly

like the weekly

baked beans

a dead cert

we’ll be back for more

because luck

(Ann O’Neill, Grove Hill Women’s Writers Group )

Acknowledgements

A big thank you to all the staff at grove hill youth & community centre, for putting up with me for the last few weeks, to tees valley joint, strategy unit for the use of the many socio-economic statistics and, the people of grove hill for their support and encouragement., 1.0        introduction.

1.0        Introduction

2.0        POPULATION

2.1        Population Count

2.2        Demographic Analysis

2.3             Political Allegiance

3.0        HISTORY

3.0        history, 4.0        housing.

4.1        Type

4.2             Availability

4.3        Cost

4.4        Quality

5.0        ECONOMY

5.1        Employment

5.2        Unemployment

6.0        EDUCATION

6.1        Schools

6.1.1     Primary Schools

6.1.2     Secondary Schools

6.2        Further/Higher Education

6.3             Qualifications

6.4             Attitudes

7.0        CRIME

7.1        Statistics

8.0        HEALTH

8.0        Health

9.0        FACILITIES & RESOURCES

9.1             Key Agencies             

9.1.1      Grove Hill 2000

9.1.2      Community Development Team

9.2             Leisure Facilities

9.3             Shopping

9.4             Worship

9.5             Library

10.0      PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

10.1      Size

10.2      Ward Boundaries

10.3         Attitudes

10.3.1 Workers

10.3.2 Residents

10.3.3 Non-residents

10.4      Environmental Issues

11.0      TRANSPORT

11.1      Car Ownership

11.2         Public Transport

11.2.1 Availability & Cost

12.0      NEEDS ANALYSIS

13.0      conclusion.

14. 0 DEFINITIONS/ABBREVIATIONS

REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appendix 1. – `grove hill ward boundary map`, appendix 2. – `grove hill socio-economic snapshot `    .

APPENDIX 3. - `Selected Socio-Economic Statistics`

1.0             Introduction

This report will form a community profile of the Grove Hill ward area of Middlesbrough. A community profile can be described as a `comprehensive description of the needs of a population … that is defined as a community, and the resources that exist within that community, carried out with the active involvement of the community` (Hawtin, Hughes and Percy-Smith, 1994: 5).

Grove Hill ward falls under the classification of a geographical community, that is a `web of personal relationships, group networks, traditions and pattern of behaviour that develops amongst those who share the same physical environment` (Hindley, 1997: 1).

Grove Hill ward contains the enumeration districts EUFJ01 , EUFJ05 , EUFJ06 , EUFJ07 , EUFJ08 , EUFJ09 AND EUFJ10 (see APPENDIX 1. `Grove Hill Ward Boundary Map` for visual details of Grove Hill area). These areas are eligible for support under the Community Economic Development criteria of North East of England Single Programme relating to Objective 2 of the European Structural Funds.

All statistics in this report are provided by Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit and are taken from 1991 census or associated documentation unless otherwise indicated.

·         population 5,580

·         2,270 households

2.2             Demographic Analysis

The population is split fairly evenly between male and female residents, with a slight female bias (48.6%:51.4%).

The percentage of residents from ethnic minority groups in grove hill (4.4%) although being lower than the national average ( 5.9% ) is far greater than the local mean rating ( tees valley 1.9% ). this could be partially explained by the relatively high levels of la rented accommodation and low price of private housing in the area..

Appreciation of this figure, which shocked many workers and residents, would seem to suggest that despite their presence, ethnic minority groups are heavily under-represented in local agencies and initiatives.

Analysis of the population age shows that Grove Hill has a slightly younger population than regional and national averages and also that there are less residents of 45+ and pensionable age (see Appendix – 2 `Selected Socio-Economic Statistics`). The lower level of older people can be partially attributed to shorter life span, in turn ascribed to a relatively unhealthy lifestyle and lower probability of available health provision being accessed, thus reducing the average life span. The area having an above average Standardised Mortality Rate of 111 would seem to confirm this.

Single parent households run at 8.6%, considerably higher than the local average, and that for England and Wales ( 5.3%/3.7% ). The number of households with three or more children also runs high at 8.1% ( 5.9%/5.3% ). These statistics coupled with 2.5% of households being categorised as overcrowded ( 1.8%/2.1% ), also signifies many larger than average sized families in the area.

2.3        Political Allegiance

Grove Hill Ward is a Labour Party stronghold. Currently two Labour Party Councillors represent the Ward in the local council, Ken J. Hall and Patricia Walker.

3.0               HISTORY

3.0             History

`In 1992/93 our estate came close to riot, an effort to find solutions was started by the stakeholders in the community, residents, local authority officers & members and agencies working the area` (GH 2000 Web Site, 1998).

A series of   ` Community Futures ` workshops and a Community Conference were held, (addressing key issues; safety – youth – crime – unemployment) which drew up an Agenda for Action, the first point on the agenda was the development of a vehicle which would implement the actions identified, thus Grove Hill 2000 was created.

Historically the Grove Hill estate has always been a residential area with relatively poor socio-economic standing including very high unemployment and above average crime rates. This has led to the area being stigmatised and many of the residents, especially those in the younger age brackets, being branded as lazy and/or criminal. This is not a true reflection of the area and Grove Hill 2000 especially, with partnership agreements is working hard to not only regenerate the area in terms of socio-economic standing, but to change the negative attitudes towards the area from residents and non-residents alike.

4.1             Type

There are 2,330 households in the area (of 2400 dwellings). The population density is 38 persons/hectare showing a heavily populated residential estate against regional and national averages (8.2 p/h / 3.5 p/h).

The housing tenure in the area shows that home ownership is 1/3 below both local and national averages, with LA rented accommodation making up the majority of the shortfall (details in APPENDIX 3. , Fig. 3.2 ).

There are a large number of flats situated on Bishopton Road that have been created with the needs of the elderly in mind.

Whilst walking around the area it is apparent that not many houses are for sale as there are few `For Sale` signs. Local estate agents confirm that house sales in the area are `slow`, this is reflected in local advertising, where very few residences in Grove Hill appear.

Wimpey Homes in Partnership with Middlesbrough Borough Council are `creating a range of affordable new homes` at Marton Grove named ` Clairville ` ( Wimpey Homes promotional brochure ). This 110 two and three bedroom home development is seen as a key foundation in the visual and economic regeneration of Grove Hill.

According to the Sales Assistant at the Show Homes “sales are going well” at this development. Purchasers are from all around Middlesbrough, many of them are “moving down-market to free capital for holidays or other things”.   The Assistant believed that the success in sales was down to the fact that the area “has improved a hell of a lot”.

The cost for new homes on Wimpey’s ` Clairville ` development are lower than similar and identical housing in other areas of Middlesbrough. Two bed houses start at £36,450 and three bed from £39,450, a saving of around £10,000 on properties in other parts of town. As an incentive for first time Wimpey are also offering 5% deposit paid for buyers to purchase these homes.

The suspicion that the housing market is quiet in the area is confirmed by local estate agents, who also comment that prices in the area are `appreciably lower than many other residential areas`.

Statistics suggest that the quality of housing in Grove Hill is good. Only 12.6% of households are not fitted with central heating, this compares favourably with regional and national comparisons ( 15.1%/18.5% ), this is mainly due to the large number of council properties which have been recently modernised.

However the statistics are representative of the average household in the area and some housing is in a very bad state of dilapidation and disrepair.

50.4% of the male and 37.3% of female residents are classified as working, this is slightly lower than the Ward mean (53.5%/39.7%) and mode (55.6%/40%) values for Middlesbrough.

The socio-economic group of head of household in Grove Hill is disproportionately dominated by the lower status and lower paid sectors of employment, unskilled (10.8%), semi-skilled (27%), and skilled manual workers (26.1%). These figures show that Grove Hill residents are considerably disadvantaged in the work place in terms of status and pay when compared with local and national figures.

Unemployment rates are 17.8% for males and 4.7% for females, this shows a 2.5% higher unemployment rate among males than the Middlesbrough mean, although the statistic for female unemployment compares favourably with the borough Ward mean (5.1%). This equates to 213 men and 40 women unemployed in the Ward.

These statistics tell a very sombre story when equated with comparative data for the   Tees Valley area (male11.4%/ female 3.3%), and National   unemployment rates (m 5%/f 2.0%).

These statistics do not include the group which are classified as `Inactive`, that is individuals who are not in paid employment including those who are retired, students or permanently sick. This category accounts for a further 31.8% of males and 58% of females.

6.1             Schools

6.1.1      Primary Schools

There are two primary schools in the area;

·         Marton Grove Primary

·         St. Josephs R. C.

There are no secondary schools situated directly in the Ward area, therefore most school aged children face a bus journey to one of the local schools, most of which are within a 6 mile radius. These include Brackenhoe, Kings Manor, St. David’s, Hall Garth and Macmillan’s CTC, although interestingly no one that I spoke to knew of any Grove Hill children attending Macmillan’s.

No facilities within the Ward, the following are all a `reasonable` bus ride away (approximate distance):

·         Teesside Tertiary College (1 mile) – wide range of qualifications including A Level, GCSE, BTEC, NVQ, GNVQ, RSA and City & Guilds.

·         Middlesbrough College (1 mile) – from foundation skills to BTEC, NVQ and GNVQ. HNC in association with University of Teeside.

·         Cleveland College of Art and Design (1 mile) – part time non-vocational qualifications to BA (Hons).

·         St. Mary’s RC Sixth Form (1 mile) – A Level and GNVQ courses for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

·         University of Teesside (1.5 miles) – HNC, HND to Masters and Research Degrees

6.3        Qualifications

·         16.4% of year 11 pupils from the Ward failed to achieve any grades A*-G at GCSE in 1997 (10.9, 7.7), this is more than twice the national average.

(Middlesbrough Average, National Average)

6.4        Attitudes

Many residents of the area, both young and old, have a negative attitude towards formal education thinking “what’s the point, we won’t get a decent job anyway, not if we come from ‘round here” (young resident).

·         1684 reported crimes, fourth highest in Middlesbrough

·         723 crimes per 1000 households, fifth highest in Middlesbrough

·         10% of offenders dealt with by the Probation Service (Middlesbrough) from Grove Hill

·         closed circuit television installed in several areas for crime prevention

(statistics - Consultation Report, 1998: 9).

8.0             Health

`There is a good choice of Doctors and Dentists locally and South Cleveland Hospital is located just a short distance away on Marton Road` ( Wimpey Homes , promotional brochure).

Despite this optimistic outlook the picture of health for residents is not so rosy. A disappointing 19.6% of residents are categorised as having a major health problem or disability, once more showing an unfavourable comparison with local and national averages ( 15.3%, 13.1% ).

9.1             Key Agencies

Grove Hill 2000 Limited is a vehicle for driving forward change (physical, social and environmental) in the local community. Since inception (1996), Grove Hill 2000 have successfully bid for SRB Challenge Funding, and Employment Zones contract, the VSO option of New Deal, European Regional Development Fund assistance, they were unsuccessful in a bid for ESF funding.

1997/8 was the first year of a seven-year regeneration programme for Grove Hill. This regeneration scheme is managed by a partnership which includes the council, probation service, Teesside Council for Voluntary Services (TCVS) and is lead by a community based company, Grove Hill 2000.

The Grove Hill 2000 board of directors includes seven residents, `to ensure that the project remains accountable to the local community` (GH 2000 Web Site). The project’s staff work with local people to tackle community safety, form a self-build housing group, and have undertaken a skills audit and provide a `Jobsmatch` service.

A Community Resource Centre costing around £850,000 was completed in February 1999 and opened in April. It is situated on Bishopton Road, next to the existing MBC Community Centre and houses most of GH2000’s community initiatives, with the notable exception of their youth projects.

GH2000 offers projects which are designed to meet the needs of local residents, these include offering training courses (especially I.T. and job skills), a community safety project, a self build project (participants build and maintain their own homes), employment and back to work projects. All projects designed to generally improve the socio-economic status of the area.

9.1.2     Community Development Team

The Local Authority (MBC) has a Community Development Team based in Grove Hill. Although this team’s remit is to work in the whole of central Middlesbrough and not just Grove Hill, they are involved in building sustainable projects within the locality. Project ideas come from the local residents who are involved at all levels of project development from management, through delivery, to evaluation. It is hoped that capacity building and sustainability will be achieved through these processes. The CDT is heavily involved in building sustainable, inclusive and effective Community Councils.

Located within Grove Hill is Teesside’s only International Athletics Stadium. As the promotional leaflet suggests `Everyone’s heard of the “Stadium”`, this is not too far from the truth for Middlesbrough residents as most school sports days are held here. Clairville Stadium `includes all-weather athletics and cycling tracks and hosts local, regional and international events. An active school holiday programme is run for children keen to explore athletics. The stadium also runs a junior athletics club [ graduating ] onto the adult clubs that train at the stadium` (Middlesbrough Official Guide, 1997: 30). The stadium also has facilities for fitness and two squash/raquetball courts.

Many of the local residents feel that although these facilities are on their doorsteps, they are priced to high to be available to them on a regular basis.

Good levels of local shopping facilities are available at the `Palladium` shopping area . These include:

Post Office, Off Licence, Bakers, Butchers, Green grocers, Clothes shop, Amusement arcade, Frozen food store, `Ladbrookes` Bookmakers, `Kwick Save` supermarket, Newsagents, General dealers, Decorators shop, Charity shop (Teesside Hospice), Chemists

Dentist, Barbers, Pet shop/dog parlour, Indian take away, Pizza take away (2), Chinese take away, Fish & Chip take away, Petrol station. There are also five unused buildings in disrepair, spaces for around 40 cars (this seems to be very busy during working hours).

There is a large `Aldi` supermarket on the outskirts of Grove Hill with very competitive prices. However many of the younger residents feel a stigma attached to shopping at this store. Also just outside the Ward boundary are Belle Vue shops which offer a selection of small local outlets.

The Parish of `St. Oswald’s Martyr and King` is located within the Ward area. As well as dealing with resident spiritual needs, the church also provides some provision of activity/play work with the under 11’s.

St Chad’s lies just outside the Ward perimeter, however it does offer 2 evenings of provision for young people from the area (under 11). The `Boy’s Brigade` also operates from the Church Hall on Monday evenings.

Next to St. Joseph’s Primary School is St. Joseph’s R.C. Church.

Grove Hill has a good quality local library, which staff say is a `well used` facility, indeed the library looked very busy on each of the occasions I visited.

Grove Hill covers an area of 140 hectares.

Grove Hill is bounded by Westbourne (N), Berwick Hills (E), Beechwood (S) and Park (W).

10.3      Attitudes

Julie Davies, Centre Manager at Grove Hill Youth Community Centre comments on the area ‘it has definitely changed for the better … I used to come to the centre when I was a kid, I was one of the brats. The area now looks much better, the people are community oriented … they know each other and are friendly`.

Michelle Crinnion, clerical assistant commented `its a lot quieter than I thought it would be, I was given a very negative view of Grove Hill when I was growing up, but the people are really easy to talk to`.

GH2000 Youth Development Worker, Tim Deans explains that perhaps one of the problems is `that as the area of high disadvantage [Bishopton Road] has been regenerated, it has improved beyond the level of other parts of the estate [e.g. Meadowfield]. So the part which is being regenerated is now not the most needy`.

Attitudes towards the area from residents are highly variable. Although some residents have a positive outlook and cite the recent changes as good examples of how the area is improving, many others have a poor view of the area. Young people in particular have a negative view of the area and feel stigmatised to a greater or lesser degree with the title of `Grove Hillian`.

When questioned on the best and worst aspects of the area the most common replies were: best things – `youth club`, `computer stuff at GH2000`, `lots of family live round here`, and `the community centre`. Highlighted among the worst things were - `the rogues`, `gangs drinking on the corners and pinching stuff`, `vandalism and graffiti`, `the park that used to be good, but someone trashed it all … now its only got a climbing frame`, `burglary` and `the fucking big camera and all the TWOC’s`.

Non-residents from the locality view Grove Hill very negatively. Typical views from those neighbouring or close to the area are that it is “full of rogues and drug addicts” or “the place wants knocking down” (local non-residents). This one-sided view is somewhat unfair as, it is true that Grove Hill has its share of problems, but the area’s residents seem to be blamed for much of the wrongdoing and illegal activity throughout Middlesbrough as a whole. Additionally economic and environmental factors such as high unemployment and overcrowding are either dismissed as irrelevant, or the residents themselves are blamed for these problems.

The only resource identified in the area for environmental improvement is a bottle bank in Clairville Stadium car park.

11.1         Car Ownership

The area has a large number of households without a car 59% ( 41.1%/32.4% ) and few households with 2 or more cars 6.6% ( 16.7%/22.8% ) compared locally and nationally ( in parenthesis ). Additionally, when we see that only 50.3% of workers in the area travel to work by car, a great emphasis is placed on the cost and availability of local public transport facilities.

11.2      Public Transport

11.2.1   Availability & Cost

21.2% of employed residents use public transport to travel to and from work. Other residents require public transport to travel mainly to the town centre for extended shopping and leisure facilities, or to gain access to provision for travelling further afield.

Local resident’s views on the public transport are favourable. A bus journey to Middlesbrough Town Centre from the Palladium shops costs 64p and the journey takes approximately 15 minutes. The service is frequent with several busses from Grove Hill to the Town Centre every hour.

Having identified the relative large percentage of residents from ethnic minority groups and their apparent `invisibility` in the area, it is important that this group is sought out and consulted about their future needs in the area’s regeneration.

There is a blatant need for social opportunities for young people who are currently offered little by GH2000 and only a couple of two-hour sessions by the Youth and Community Centre. There is great opportunity for collaborative work here between the two parties as GH2000 have funding for resources and outings, whilst MBC Youth Service provides sessional youth work staff with little resource funding.

Further opportunities exist to involve the community in the regeneration of their area through volunteering and project provision, particularly with parents and toddlers and older people.

Affordable recreational, leisure and social activities are still on the agenda despite being identified as important needs by the 1997 Community Appraisal (TCAP, 1997: 12)

The most significant needs that do not appear to be being addressed at a strategic level are issues around health. There is a definite need for health promotion and education throughout all aspects of the community, which could make a tremendous impact on people’s lives. This could be done in partnership between existing provision showing how to eat healthily on a small budget and exploring the implications of unhealthy eating.

13.0           CONCLUSION

After only a short time in Grove Hill it becomes apparent the majority of the residents are keen to make suggestion which may make a positive impact on the areas image and structure. I must concur with the findings and conclusion of TCAP that local people have `many ideas for opportunities for the regeneration of the area` (TCAP, 1997: 17).

Grove Hill is keen to capacity build by involving local people in projects which are designed to meet local needs, especially through the work of GH2000. However, It appears that much of the work is overseen and/or carried out by a small group of local residents who may be in danger of distancing themselves from the views and needs of other residents as they professionalise themselves through their experience and learning, thus loosing their roots. It may be advisable to seek more residents to ensure the projects continue to meet the needs of all residents and not purely the few who are heavily involved.

The Grove Hill 2000 Limited partnership with much SRB funding is attempting not only to build capacity, but to create sustainable regeneration projects within the area, though it is appreciated that this is a difficult task.

It would appear that GH2000 has been highly successful in raising awareness of the needs of Grove Hill and its residents, however I believe that this has come at a cost. Due to the high profile and large budget that GH2000 is working with, other smaller projects, such as the Youth and Community Centre and potential local initiatives are expected to be represented by GH2000. Thus any group which is not in favour with GH2000 or at odds with the project faces an uphill battle to secure funding, resources and assistance in an area which has seen a great deal of recent improvement.

It also appears that GH2000’s activities, although beneficial to local residents are somewhat disjointed and, to outsiders at least may appear to be lacking co-ordination and direction. It would appear that many residents and workers in Grove Hill are unclear of the `big picture` for one reason or another. This is perhaps reinforced by much of the regeneration being concentrated in a very small area [ Bishopton Road ], which may cause a perception of elitism among some residents.

14.0      DEFINITIONS/ABBREVIATIONS

CDT – Community Development Team

CTC – City Technical College (Macmillan College in Middlesbrough)

ESF – European Social Fund

GH 2000 –   Grove Hill 2000 Limited

IT – Information Technology

LA – Local Authority (which for Grove Hill is Middlesbrough Borough Council)

MBC – Middlesbrough Borough Council

MCVD – Middlesbrough Council for Voluntary Development

SRB – Single Regeneration Budget

TCVS – Teesside Council for Voluntary Service

TCAP – Teeside Community Appraisal Partnership

TWOC – Taken Without Owners’ Consent (Car Theft)

VSO – Voluntary Sector Option (of the New Deal initiative)

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Consultation report (1998) an audit of crime and disorder in middlesbrough middlesbrough: middlesbrough council/middlesbrough police, hawtin, m., hughes, g. and percy-smith, j. (1994) community profiling, auditing social needs buckingham: open university press.

Hindley, A. (1997) ` Glossary ` in Harris, V. (Ed.) Community Work Skills Manual Newcastle: Association of Community Workers

Middlesbrough Official Guide (1997) Middlesbrough Official Guide Middlesbrough: Middlesbrough Borough Council Public Relations Dept.

TCAP (1997) Community Appraisal for the Wards of Beechwood, Easterside and Grove Hill Middlesbrough: Teesside Community Appraisal Partnership

GH 2000 Web Site (1998) www.gh2000.i.am

Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit Web Site (2000) www.teesvalley-jsu.gov.uk

  APPENDIX 1.

`Grove Hill Ward Boundary Map`

Grove Hill ward contains the enumeration districts EUFJ01 , EUFJ05 , EUFJ06 , EUFJ07 , EUFJ08 , EUFJ09 AND EUFJ10 .

APPENDIX 2.

`Grove Hill Socio-Economic Snapshot`

(Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit `http://www.teesvalley-jsu.gov.uk`)

Area Snapshot for the Middlesbrough Ward of Grove Hill

Population (Mid-2000)    Total 5,510                            Male 2,680                 Female 2,830

Under 5                                    350

5 to 16                                      1,030

17 to 24                                     580

25 to 44                                    1,690

45 to retirement                         970

retirement and over                   890

Number of households (Mid-2000)          2,330

Number of dwellings (Mid-2000)            2,400

Area (hectares)                                                 146

Population density (persons/hectare)       38

Tenure (% households, 1991 Census)

Owner-Occupied                       47.9                 Rented Privately                                    4.6

Local Authority Rented              37.0                Housing Association Rented                   10.5

Other 1991 Census Indicators

% Ethnic minorities                                4.4       % Households with lone pensioner          18.8

% People with a health problem                         19.6    % Single parent households                     8.6

%Households with 3 or more children     8.1       % households with no car                      59.0

%households with 2 or more cars           6.6       % households with no central heating      12.6

% Overcrowded households                   2.5

Socio-Economic Group (1991 Census)

% of heads of households :

Employers/managers/professionals         13.5

Other non-manuals                                22.5

Skilled manuals                          26.1

Semi-skilled manuals                              27.0

Unskilled manuals                                  10.8

Means of Travel to Work (1991 Census)

% By car          50.3                % By bus          21.2                            % On foot         18.4    % Other means             8.4                         % who work at home                1.7

Unemployment (January 2000) :                          Overall unemployment rate %    11.8

Notes : 1991 Census data is Crown Copyright. Mid 2000 Population data provided by Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit. All other data was supplied by the Office for National Statistics .

APPENDIX 3.

`Selected Socio-Economic Statistics`

Figure 3.2 ` Grove Hill Housing Tenure, 1991 Census `

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Tools for Creating a Community Profile: Introduction

• Introduction
• Census Data
• Hawaii State Data Center
• Additional Resources

URL for this guide: http://go.hawaii.edu/dgP

About this guide, what's in a community profile.

A community profile may include information about the following:

• Demographic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, and number of immigrants
• Social characteristics like educational attainment, income, language spoken at home, or poverty status
• Prevalence of homeless or unsheltered individuals
• Health status
• Utilization of social services

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Developing a Community Profile

A community profile is a narrative that describes the community affected by the environmental contamination at a site. The profile summarizes community concerns and demographic information and identifies community leaders and organizations, social determinants of health, and other important characteristics of the affected community. Developing a community profile can help you understand the community and prepare for your public health work. Creating a community profile is an essential first step and can help you develop a community engagement plan further down the road.

Geographic Information System (GIS) experts are a great resource and can help you obtain important demographic information. To ensure the information is accurate, remember to provide the latitude and longitude of the street address at the environmental contamination site. If known, you can provide information such as an EPA ID number.

• Clearly define and map the boundaries, geographic or otherwise, of the community you are working with.
• Use a community profile worksheet or community data worksheet to keep track of the information you gather. (See resource: ATSDR Communication Toolkit: Community Data Worksheet pdf icon )
• Gather contact information for key agencies, community leaders, and stakeholders.
• Identify sources of community information that can add context and inform decision-making about your public health work. (See callout box: Getting the Data )
• Develop an inventory of existing community strengths, organizations, and resources that may be used to support your community engagement or public health work. This is also known as “asset-mapping.”
• Assess health equity, health disparities, environmental justice issues, and the needs of any identified special populations.
• Identify local facilities that may be good for hosting potential community meetings.
• Identify virtual platforms (e.g., Skype, Zoom, WebEx, etc.) that can be used to host meetings.

Take advantage of the amount of information that is readily available about the community. Review everything you can (e.g., publicly available community data, news articles, and local social media posts).

Remember that news and rumors travel fast, especially when a new agency enters a community. Build trust and credibility by working together with the community to develop a community engagement plan and list of stakeholders and state, territorial, local, and tribal (STLT) partners.

Do not assume you know everything there is to know about a community. Truly understanding a community requires time, effort, and an open mind.

Get as much information as you can to build a community profile. Remember, the information will help you better understand the community’s needs and plan community engagement activities. What you include in your profile will depend on the data you need and the resources you have. The profile should be updated as you learn more about the community. Use the ATSDR Community Data Worksheet pdf icon  to help you understand the unique story of your community and identify gaps where community input and insight may be needed. (See resource: ATSDR Communication Toolkit: Community Data Worksheet pdf icon )

• ATSDR Communication Toolkit: Community Data Worksheet pdf icon (ATSDR). A ready-to-use worksheet to organize initial data gathering efforts
• CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index: SVI Interactive Map (CDC). An interactive map that applies CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to communities across the United States
• Map Room external icon (University of Missouri). Free mapping and reporting tools that support data and case-making needs across sectors
• National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (CDC). A collection of non-infectious disease and environmental health data from a nationwide network of partners

the encyclopaedia of pedagogy and informal education

How to do a community audit: building profiles using neighbourhood statistics

On this page we suggest some basic and quick steps you can undertake a community audit, and gather information about a particular neighbourhood in britain or northern ireland., contents : i ntroducing community audits and profiles · quick statistical profile · census material · local authority statistics and other material · crime · other searches · your local library and agencies in the area · further reading, introducing community audits and profiles.

Community audits are basically mapping exercises. They help us to understand the resources there are within a neighbourhood or area, the possible needs of local people, and the responses or services we might be able to offer to address gaps or develop community life.

There are three basic ways of undertaking a community audit or profiling exercise.

• Desk-or kitchen table-based research.

• Walking the streets.

• Talking and listening to people. This might include using questionnaires, knocking on doors and chatting with people and holding meetings or group sessions to explore different issues.

Here we focus on the first of these. The best and easiest starting point with regard to data about the community you are interested in profiling or auditing is the web. Most of the basic statistics and background you need can be obtained by a few keystrokes (hopefully!).

Below we set out the first steps you need to take. From there we go on to look at the sort of paper information that might be available in your local library and via local agencies.

For a quick statistical community profile or audit

For a quick start try Checkmystreet . Just add in the postcode and you get details of closest bus stops, train stations, sold prices, crime rate and broadband speed.

Streetcheck is one of the best UK-wide local area community audit and profiling sites at the moment. It uses material from government databases, including census information and Land Registry data, and other sources including market research statistics. As well as data on housing and employment, the “people” section includes material on social class (rather curiously described as ‘social grade!), gender, relationship status, age groupings, health and education and qualifications. There are also figures for ethnicity, religion and so on.

Streetcheck is accessed through postcodes – and it is important to click on the ‘summary’ tab once you have the results to check what areas are actually covered. The figures are initially based on the last census collection. Each group of postcodes should contain at least 100 people (50 in Scotland). The summary should show what postcodes are covered by the results.

UK Local Area takes you straight to statistics about deprivation and crime in local communities and neighbourhoods. It rates areas on housing, employment, income deprivation, barriers to services, health etc. Their Help/FAQ area gives a useful brief breakdown of their terms and sources.

FindaHood is great if you want to audit or profile a neighbourhood or community in England (it is gradually expanding its reach). It provides a breakdown of school results, age of residents, family structure, crime results, occupations, religious affiliations and some details about gardens and green spaces.

Nomis is a good source for local statistics in England and Wales. Look first for the local area report . There is a search box on the front page (but the local area report will take you to a separate search box). At the bottom of the results are links for the local authority area and the ward you are looking at. Results are organized under three headings:

• How we live

Using census material

The obvious problem about census material is its age. That said it can still provide useful data. On the Nomis page, you can also look at Census data – but this is not for the faint-hearted. Look for Census information . In the Table Finder section choose what you want to know about – there is a long list – and at what level you want to look for – e.g. local authority or ward.

statistics .gov.scot is the go-to site for auditing or profiling communities and neighbourhoods in Scotland. On the front page, there are a number of easy access guides etc. You can get a feel of the site by just typing in a relevant postcode and you can get key facts on:

• Economic Activity
• Children, Education, Training
• Community, Crime, Justice

These are available, usually, for the electoral ward and the local authority area. As well as this there are links into more specialist data.

ninis is the Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service. This site works differently to the Scotland, Wales and England systems. Basically you choose an area of interest e.g. crime and then you can either click on a table or download a spreadsheet that contains the data. Each usually covers the whole of Northern Ireland and you then have to scroll down to find the area that you want.

Local authority data and information

GOV.UK is the somewhat misnamed place to find your local council. If you are in England and Wales – just enter a postcode and off you go.

mygov.scot is the much better named local council search in Scotland.

nidirect takes you to Northern Ireland councils.

You will be able to examine different aspects of the council’s work such as housing, social services, planning, education and so on. You can also usually search the site for information about particular areas and examine the minutes of different committees. They may even have produced profiles of different communities/neighbourhoods.

Crime statistics

If you want a quick snapshot of what is going on in an area head for UK Crime Statistics . You can enter a postcode and get an overview.

It is now also possible to get information on crime and antisocial behaviour on neighbourhoods in England or Wales via PoliceUK . Just click on Find Your Neighbourhood.

In Scotland you can go to the Scottish Government Crime and Justice Statistics for the overall situation – local routes into statistics are limited. You can get some stuff via UK Crime Statistics and your local authority site may give some help.

In Northern Ireland just head for the crime and statistics section in the ninis website.

Pictures of your neighbourhood

For a view from the air or the street go to Google maps (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps),  enter the place or postcode and then press ‘satellite’ in the map/image area. Zoom to the view you require.

For pictures of the area a search on Flickr (www.flickr.com), the photo-share site, can often yield interesting results.

Take a look at the property sites such as rightmove.co.uk . This gives a good idea of the non-social housing rental market and sales.

Other searches

Now it is time to go to Google , Bing,  DuckDuckGo (to avoid a barrage of advertising and data sharing) or Startpage (to avoid tracking and data-stealing).

The secret with searching is to include some qualifying words e.g. Bermondsey+history, Rotherhithe+health. This should pick up some useful material. For hints on Google searching go to the essentials of Google search .

Your local library and agencies in the area

Much of the material available on the web might well be found in a good local library. What they may also have pre-internet material – and this can provide information that helps make sense of current developments and issues.

An often invaluable resource is the reports and materials held by other agencies. Frequently, they will be in a pretty unorganized state, but ploughing through what has been chucked in a box file or document box can sometimes yield gems.

Further reading

Hawtin, M., Hughes, G. and Percy Smith, J. (2007) Community Profiling. A practical guide. (Revised edition) Maidenhead: Open University Press. 256 pages. A practical guide with an annotated bibliography detailing UK examples of community profiles.

Chapters on the nature of community profiles; planning; involving the community; making use of existing information; collecting new information; survey methods; storing and analysing information; collating and presenting information; using your findings.

Other resources

Community audits for churches – https://www.london.anglican.org/kb/community-audits/

Community audit – food mapping – https://www.sustainweb.org/foodcoopstoolkit/communityaudit/

Auditing community participation – https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/jr082-community-participation-assessment.pdf

Auditing your community assets – https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/management/view_help_sheet.do?articleid=9

Street audits – https://www.gcph.co.uk/assets/0000/5165/Briefing_Paper_47_street_audit.pdf

Acknowledgement: Photo – Scoot by parr2012 . Flickr ccbyncsa2 licence.

© Mark K. Smith 2001-2009, 2019

• Corpus ID: 108106026

Community Profiling: A Practical Guide

• Murray Hawtin , J. Percy-smith
• Published 2007

19 Citations

Exploring the learning experiences of students involved in community profiling projects.

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Community profiling to support inclusive urban community-based climate adaptation: experiences of a survey-based approach in urban informal settlements in Honiara, Solomon Islands

An investigation of community participation trends in the rural development process in nquthu, northern kwazulu-natal, an introduction to applying social work theories and methods, considering community engagement for remote and rural healthcare design in scotland : exploring the journey from rhetoric to reality, community media narrowcasting in uganda: an assessment of community audio towers, learning innovative methodologies to foster personal, organizational and community empowerment through online and face- to-face community psychology courses, an evaluative study of municipality programs in addressing water and sanitation services in informal settlements, faculty of arts and education school of international and political studies, age-friendly bandon: the impact of transport on social participation in bandon and the surrounding area, related papers.

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• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: Acknowledgements
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: Introduction
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 1.  Health Services in Ethiopia
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 2.  Management and Leadership in Community Healthcare
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 3.  Planning Health Programmes
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 4.  Implementing your Health Plans
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 5.  Monitoring and Control
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 6.  Management of Supplies at Health Post Level
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 7.  Principles of Healthcare Ethics
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 8.  Ethical Dilemmas in Health Service Delivery
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 9.  Rights and Obligations of Health Extension Practitioners
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 10.  General Principles of Health Research and Introduction to Community Surveys
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 11.  Developing Your Community Profile
• Health Management, Ethics and Research: 12.  Data Collection and Analysis for Your Baseline Community Survey

Introduction

• Learning Outcomes for Study Session 13

13.1.1  Components of a community profile report

• 13.2.1  Clarifying the problem of malaria infection in your community
• 13.2.2  Criteria for choosing health problems to research
• 13.2.3  Poor sanitary conditions: creating a research question
• 13.2.4  Community participation in prioritising health issues
• 13.3  Choosing which topic to research
• 13.4.1  What other sources should you consult?
• 13.4.2  Research objectives
• Summary of Study Session 13
• Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Study Session 13
• Health Management, Ethics and Research: 14.  Research Strategies and Study Designs for Small-Scale Research
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 15.  Sampling Methods and Sample Size in Small-Scale Research
• Health Management, Ethics and Research Module: 16.  Extended Case Study on Health Management, Ethics and Research
• Download PDF version
• Health Management, Ethics and Research PDF (1.4MB)

About this course

• 40 hours study
• 1 Level 1: Introductory
• Course description

Health Management, Ethics and Research

If you create an account, you can set up a personal learning profile on the site.

Your community profile (i.e. the report of your community survey) should contain the components listed in Box 13.1. Note that this format is exactly the same for the report of a small-scale research project or for a large-scale national survey. It is recognised internationally as the standard format for all forms of research report.

Box 13.1  Components of a community profile report

Table of contents, survey methods.

• Conclusion and recommendations

Acknowledgements

The Results, Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations sections should form the most substantial part of your report. The completed report should contain the following information in each section.

The cover page of your community profile report should contain the title, your name and the month and year that you submitted the report. The title should include the name of the study area, for example ‘ Community Profile of Village X: Report of a Community Survey ’.

The summary should contain very brief descriptions (in no more than a few sentences each) in the following sequence:

• The location of the community survey (where it took place).
• The problem (why this survey was needed).
• The main objectives (what the survey set out to achieve).
• The type of survey and methods used (e.g. a community-level survey using questionnaires, interviews and focus groups for data collection).
• A list summarising the major findings and conclusions.
• A list summarising the major recommendations.

You may need to be prepared to write different versions of the summary for health managers, for health staff at your level or lower levels (e.g. volunteers) and for community members.

The Table of contents provides the reader with a quick overview of the major sections of your survey report, with the page number of the first page in each section. This enables the person reading to go straight to particular sections of interest. Look at the Table of contents for this Module to see the style you should use.

Your introduction should begin by stating the purpose (objectives) of developing a community profile for your kebele . Then give some relevant background information about the community, what was previously known about the health status of the population, and any health service data which is relevant to the community profile. You may also include any background information on any relevant environmental, administrative, economic or social issues.

This should be followed by brief descriptions of the main categories of information that you have collected and investigated. Refer briefly to any additional information which you have obtained during the implementation of the survey.

Any relevant reports or documents you have found helpful should be briefly reviewed in your introduction section. It should end with a paragraph on what you hope (or hoped) to achieve by surveying your community and developing a community profile.

The method you used to collect your data should be described in detail. This section should include a description of:

• The survey type.
• Major survey themes or variables (a more detailed list of variables on which data was collected may be put in an appendix).
• The survey population, which in the case of a community profile will be all members of all households in your area.
• How the data was collected and by whom, including how you trained other data collectors (e.g. volunteers, model family members) to collect the data.
• The procedures you used for data analysis, including any statistical tests (if applicable), as described in Study Session 12.

The results section should contain a systematic presentation of your findings in relation to the survey purpose and is a crucial part of your report. The description of findings should include a combination of data from qualitative and quantitative components of the survey. They may be best presented as Tables and/or Figures (diagrams, e.g. graphs, flow charts, etc.), each with a unique number (e.g. Table 2, Figure 7, etc.) and a caption describing the Table or Figure clearly. Figure 13.1 shows two graphs, each with a clear heading. The results should also be described in words, referring to any Tables and Figures you include.

The findings presented in the Results section should be discussed in this section. It is a good idea to refer back to the purposes of the community survey at this stage. The discussion may include findings from other related surveys that support or contradict your own. For example, if there has been a previous community survey for the same area, your discussion should refer to any features of community health, demographic or epidemiological factors, health service use, environmental conditions, etc. that have changed since the previous report.

Conclusions and recommendations

The conclusions and recommendations should follow logically from the discussion of the findings. Conclusions can be short. For example, if the community survey showed that some parents have not brought their children for immunization, your conclusion could be that additional health education campaigns or more outreach immunization sessions should be organised to improve the coverage rate.

Your recommendations should be placed in the same order as the conclusions, i.e. for every conclusion there should be at least one recommendation. However, the recommendations may be summarised according to the groups to which they are directed (Box 13.1).

Box 13.1  Groups who need to consider your recommendations

• Health and health-related managers at district or local level.
• Health and health-related staff who could implement your recommended activities.
• Potential partners, e.g. community groups, volunteers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or other healthcare providers, etc.
• Community leaders and community members.

In making recommendations, it will strengthen your messages if you can use not only the findings of your own community survey, but also refer to supportive information from other sources. The recommendations should take into consideration the local characteristics of the health system, any constraints on introducing new services or working practices, and the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed solutions. They should be discussed with all concerned before they are finalised.

Imagine that a community profile demonstrated there is a shortage of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) in a kebele where there are also many malaria cases. What will be your recommendation and what constraints may delay your recommendation from being adopted?

Your recommendation would be to distribute ITNs to all households and educate the families on using them correctly. There may be a delay in adopting this recommendation if ITNs are not available locally, or if there is not enough funding to buy a sufficient number of nets. If you don’t discuss the policy of distributing nets with all concerned in the community, they may not support your recommendations.

It is good practice to thank those who supported you technically or provided resources for your community survey, including the volunteers or others who were involved in the house-to-house data collection phase.

If you used any reports, documents or any other sources to help you make sense of the data in your survey, you should quote the full references in this section, including the year of publication and the name(s) of the author(s).

The Annex(es) (also known as an Appendix, or Appendices if there is more than one) should contain any additional information needed to enable readers to follow your survey procedures and data analysis. Examples of information that can be presented in an Annex are:

• Tables referred to in the text, but not included in order to keep the report short.
• Questionnaires or checklists used for data collection.

In the next section, we consider ways in which the community profile can help you to identify problems for further investigation in a small-scale research project, and how you decide which topics to prioritise for further research.

13.1  Writing a report on your community survey

13.2  Identifying problems for further investigation

For further information, take a look at our frequently asked questions which may give you the support you need.

Have a question?

If you have any concerns about anything on this site please get in contact with us here.

Report a concern

What is it?

This community profile is a quantitative snapshot of your local area designed to identify the unique attributes of your local community ‘at a glance’.

Why use it?

A community profile that harnesses publicly available information is the first, zero-cost step to understanding more about your local area.

Use it to recognise interesting groups of people in your community, to compare your local community to a wider region, and to identify opportunities or challenges you can respond to.

Before you start

Is this tool right for you? To find out more about selecting the best tool, check out Plan your Audience Research Project .

What you'll need

Your work doesn’t end when you fill out the template. Find the most interesting challenge or opportunity for your local community and take action!

Linking your organisation to a local issue, such as welcoming migrants or young families to the area, will help strengthen your impact, and could assist you with advocacy with your local council, funders, and other community groups.

Step by step

1. choose your communities.

First, confirm the Local Government Area (LGA) you wish to build a community profile for – a good start is where you or your organisation is located. Decide what ‘other’ area you would like to compare your LGA to. This could be as small or large as you like:

• Greater Melbourne
• Regional Victoria
• A wider region that your LGA sits in.

2. Populate the community profile template

Open the community profile template above. Insert your logo and change the colour scheme (if desired).

Follow the prompts in the template to build your community profile tables and charts.

You can use the table below to see where the publicly available information you need comes from. A quick web search will help you find the right page.

3. Identify your key take outs

Take some time to review each table and chart.

In the tables, where your LGA is higher than your comparison area colour your LGA cell green. Where it’s lower, colour it red.

Fill in your take outs on the right-hand side of the template, and take a moment to reflect on what stands out most:

• E.g. A large proportion of your local community speaks Vietnamese. How accessible is your organisation to this group?
• E.g. Your community are more likely to live in high-density accommodation. What spaces can you make available for greater public use?
• E.g. Does your local community feel much less a part of a tight-knit community than your comparison? If so, there may be an opportunity for you to bring your community together. If you think you already do this for some of your community, consider conducting a short survey of your attendees to compare results to better understand the depth or extent of your impact.

Community Risk Assessment Guide

Step 1b: develop a community profile.

The risk assessment should also include obtaining information on the people who are impacted by, or a part of, the problem. Therefore, it will be necessary to acquire data to develop a community demographic profile. Risk is often influenced by economic and social issues. Therefore, the community risk-reduction process must address socioeconomic issues. The demographic composition of a community typically includes the statistical data of its population. This should include:

• Race and ethnicity
• Social and cultural information
• Housing type, age, and density (optional)

Demographic Data Sources

For most communities, this information is readily available from a variety of sources. This is where involving community partners can be of significant value, as they will often have more comprehensive information regarding the local population. In some cases, a community profile may have already been completed by another government agency or organization. Local and regional demographic sources may include:

• City, state, & county government
• Chambers of Commerce
• School districts/boards of education
• Non-profit organizations
• Neighborhood associations
• Public health (state, local, & federal)
• GIS departments

A significant source for community profile data can be found on the United States Census Bureau website and the American FactFinder website. It is beyond the scope of this document to provide a complete list of the many data resources that can be found on these websites, but there are many. It is well worth the time to explore these for relevant information.

These websites contain very powerful tools and instruments for obtaining a wealth of information concerning the demographics of your community. Although the process for gathering data from these websites may be intimidating initially, it can be easily mastered with experience. You should consider spending some time exploring each of these sites to determine what is available for your community and how to utilize the various tools.

The Census Bureau website contains a vast quantity of data regarding population, businesses, geography and other information. Much of this is limited to broader areas such as states, counties and, in some cases, cities. Within the Census Bureau’s website are two other valuable sources of data: the American Housing Survey  and the American Community Survey .

The American FactFinder website may provide the most detailed demographic information about your community or service area. It provides data on population, age, business and industry, education, housing, income, poverty and much more.

Community Partners

Other state and local agencies and organizations can be quite useful in the development of your community profile. Typically, they will have important information to share and may have a better insight into loss history, high-risk groups, local business issues, and specific demographics throughout the various neighborhoods. It is strongly recommended to have representatives from the community—especially from groups at the highest risk of fires and other injuries—to serve on your team, so their insights are fully integrated into the plan.

Assessing Community Trends

In order to do a thorough assessment, it will be important to not just evaluate your community’s current conditions, but to look at its past and projected future. There are many components to this process, and it can become quite complex. Although a comprehensive analysis to determine future projections may be beyond the capacity of many fire departments, the data may already be available. The U.S. Census Bureau assesses population trends, and local planning departments often have completed projections on community growth and other anticipated trends.

Building the Community Profile

Once you have gathered the necessary data, you can then begin to build and document your community profile and answer specific questions. A bulleted summary table can be an easy way to describe the demographic characteristics of your service area. Appendix A lists the category, description, and various questions to answer about each demographic topic.

Using GIS Technology

While it would be useful to gain a basic understanding of GIS technology, it is not necessary to become an expert in this field to utilize GIS when conducting a risk assessment. Many city and county governments have GIS experts that are often willing to assist the fire department in building a GIS project. If your jurisdiction has access to GIS services, their potential value in risk assessment cannot be overstated, and you should cultivate positive relationships with the organization and staff.

GIS map projects are composed of layers of data. Each of the layers can be created from various data sources and stored in a standard relational database. In this way, GIS is much more than a map—it is a location-aware information system that allows creating, managing and displaying relevant data. Because information can be organized by a specific geographic location, it enables you to see the relationship between the various data layers.

Figure 5 is an example of a map showing the frequency and locations of fires that occurred during a six-year period. The map clearly illustrates the high-risk areas in a community, which can lead to the development of activities for prevention and mitigation.

Using GIS in the Community Profile

GIS technology is widely used by government agencies for a variety of applications. Local government agencies, such as planning or GIS departments, usually have substantial information about their communities. In some cases, they may already have a community profile documented in some form or another. The GIS department may be able to generate maps that can be used later in the CRR process.

If your department has access to GIS, local census data can be accessed and utilized to generate custom maps. ArcGIS® by Esri® is an application that can incorporate demographic, incident, and other data into useful maps that can provide much greater insight into what risks are occurring, where they are occurring, and within what types of populations.

Guide Directory

• Importance of Community Risk Reduction
• Risk Defined
• Useful Tools and Resources
• Acquire Data
• Develop a Community Profile
• Identify Causal Factors
• Identify Target Hazards
• Describe Risk Attributes and Vulnerability
• Rating (Scoring) Target Hazards
• Demographic Profile
• Fire Department Resources & Service Areas
• Fire Department Service Demand
• Target Hazard Analysis
• Community Risk Priorities
• Conclusion & Notes
• Appendix A: Building the Community Profile
• Appendix B: List of Risk Assessment Resources
• About this Guide

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Creating a community profile

Community profiling has become a staple activity of health authorities and primary care trusts. Policymakers are increasingly keen to judge policy interventions by their outcomes, and measuring changes in the demographic of the community that they are interested in is a key means of achieving this. Health care practitioners, too, are interested in the physical, social and economic make-up of the communities that they serve.

In general terms, a community profile might provide quantitative information on the following criteria for a defined local population:

• raw population numbers, broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, religion etc.
• vital statistics
• economic activity, employment
• housing, households
• crime statistics
• data on schools, educational attainment
• key health care indicators

However, whilst it is one thing to know what information is required in order to construct a community profile – and the list above is far from exhaustive – it is another thing to track that information down.

I’m interested in profiling Colchester Borough and comparing that profile to the Eastern Region and then to England. What do I do next?

Unfortunately, there is no single resource that can solve your problem at a stroke. That said, a useful first port of call would be the Other key data publishers at the bottom of the page. Because your focus is on Colchester and the Eastern Region it might be useful to start with the Colchester health profile, made available via Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO). From there, two mouse clicks take you to the Colchester profile.

Source: APHO and Department of Health. © Crown Copyright 2007

In fact, this profile might be all that is required as it sets the Colchester data in the context of the regional and England averages. Nevertheless, there is much more information available and a second resource that might be harvested is the online data browsing and analysis tool made available on the Eastern Region Public Health Observatory (ERPHO) web site.

The ERPHO data tool runs using Nesstar and can be used to extract a wealth of health-related indicators at ward, primary care trust (PCT), local authority (LA), strategic health authority (SHA) and regional level. Some indicators are available to internal staff only via authentication but most are freely available without the requirement to authenticate. Using the ERPHO data tool, information could be extracted on, amongst other things, population estimates/projections at county and SHA level; notifiable disease statistics for 1982-2005 for regions, counties and districts; and breast screening coverage at national, regional, SHA and primary care trust (PCT) level.

Of course, not all regional PHO web sites publish data in this way but most make localised health-related data available online in some form – return to Other key data publishers and click on the ‘data’ links below each of the regional PHO web sites.

Still focusing attention on access to local data, the National Statistics (NS) Neighbourhood Statistics resource can also be used. This resource allows the retrieval of a wide range of social and economic aggregate-level indicators for a number of different geographies, including: local authority, ward, PCT, health authority, education authority and parliamentary constituency. Requesting ‘Colchester’ and ‘Local Authority’ brings up a large choice of datasets to browse, including a number on ‘Health and Care’. Choosing ‘Infant Mortality’ from the list, calls up the page displayed below.

Source: Neighbourhood Statistics © Crown Copyright 2008

A key strength of the Neighbourhood Statistics resource is that it provides not only the figures for the focus of the community profile (in this case, Colchester) but also the comparative data for the region and nation.

Where else might I look for data?

The sources described above are probably the key ones but they are not the only places where a community profiler might search for data on the web. A selection of other useful sources of information would include:

• Nomis (Office for National Statistics)
• Regional and local statistics (Office for National Statistics)
• Health and Social Care (Office for National Statistics)
• 2001 Census (National Statistics)
• Publications and statistics (Department of Health)
• Statistics and data collections (The Information Centre)