Kent County

The Various Forms of Inequality and What Can Be Done

The Problem.
Inequality is all around us. It does not just effect cities as a whole, but as we look closer, we can see that it impacts each neighborhood inside a city in different ways.

Medically Underserved Area

What does it mean?
A region of the US that has a relative or absolute deficiency of healthcare resources, including hospital beds, equipment and/or medical personnel. An MUA is defined by an Index of Medical Underservice (IMU) rating of 62%, which is based on four variables: ratio of primary medical care physicians per 1,000 population; infant mortality rate; percentage of the population with incomes below the poverty level; and percentage of the population age 65 or over.

Non-MUA

MUA

Ada* Cascade East Grand Rapids* Creston Cedar Springs Alger Heights

West Wyoming* Garfield Park* South Central* South West West Grand Heritage Hill
* Our area of focus

Education.
25 20
50 40 30 20 10

Percent

15 10 5 0
Ada East GR

Neighborhoods
W. Wyoming South Central Garfield Park

0
Ada East GR

Neighborhoods
W. Wyoming South Central Garfield Park

% with less than a high school diploma

% with Bachelors Degre

Crime.

The ratio of crimes in an area to the population of that area. -Expressed per 1,000 population per year

0
Ada

50

100
EGR

150

200

250

300

350

West Wyoming South Central

Garfield Park

Crime Rate

-Measure of magnitude and frequency

Income
150000 100000 50000 0
Ada EGR

Low Education High Crime High Unemployement

Income

Results in Low Income Neighborhoods

Area

Neighborhood
West Wyoming South Central Garfield Park

Median Household Income

Food Access.
110000

Median Household Income

Contrary to our hypothesis, there does not seem to be a strong correlation between the median income level of an area within Kent County and their access to fast food restaurants.

55003

2 1 0 8 8 3 0 1 6 4 1 4 7 3 6 1 2

# of Fast Food Restaurants

If an area is impoverished it will be harder to get any type of business to settle there.

Unemployment.
15

The areas of Kent County with the

10

Coincidentally, the areas of Kent County with the lowest unemployment rates not only had the lowest High School drop out rates, but also the highest percent of people with a Graduate Degree.

ployed

County with the highest unemployment rate also had the highest percent of people with only a High School Degree.

Percent Unemplo

10

percent of people with a Graduate Degree.

0
South Central

Highest and Lowest

South West Cascade West Grand Ada East Grand Rapids

Kent County

Summary.

Income

Education

Crime

Unemployment Food Access

Ada East GR

$109,901 $104,561

1.2% 0.6% 12.3% 31.3%

40.8 12.17 25.71 52.08

2% 3% 7% 7%

2 3 12 4

W. Wyom. $38,321 Garfield P. $28,316

S. Central $20,104

21%

347.9

12%

10

Although not all of our analyses show great correlations individually, when we combined our data into the snapshot pictured above, it was clear to see where the disparities lie within Kent County.

State Comparison.
Ada EGR West Wyoming Michigan Garfield Park

South Central

Crime Rate
Ada EGR West Wyoming Michigan Garfield Park South Central

Median Income

Ada

EGR

West Wyoming Michigan

Garfield Park

South Central

Unemployment

Solutions.
Among other benefits, strengthening our education policies will enable more people to contribute to society through the work force and democratic participation.

Striving for a healthier citizenship, rather than a cheaper healthcare system will benefit ALL citizens.

Policy

Tax policy has the power to close inequality in income disparities in several different ways.

Culture

Just as the issues of inequality vary greatly, so do the policy initiatives that have the potential to change them. Through our analyses of several different social and economic factors in five neighborhoods within Kent County, we conclude that the best solution to combating inequality in the United States is to localize policy and return powers to local and state entities.

Health, education, and tax policies are vast and rely heavily on the demographics and needs of a particular locality. Through the use of needs assessments and data analysis similar to our above research, smaller and more localized government entities will better serve U.S. citizens.