South St. Pete Health Equity Profile Released
For Immediate Release
Contact: Barbara Green
barbara@healthystpete.foundation
(727) 440-7963
New research report offers a hyper-local look at health outcomes in South St. Pete, revealing stark geographic and racial disparities amid strong social ties
(St. Petersburg, Fla.) – The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg released its latest research report last week, offering a rare hyper-local look at health outcomes and well-being in South St. Petersburg. Following a high-level presentation of findings from the South St. Pete Health Equity Profile, about 75 community members took part in a ‘data walk’ at the Foundation’s Center for Health Equity, exploring community, needs, opportunities, and strengths displayed on screens throughout the room. Staff members and researchers were on hand to lead discussions about findings, helping community members situate the data in the context of their own lives.
The Foundation commissioned and helped conduct the report – which used a mixed methods approach drawing on focus groups with residents, interviews with local leaders, and an extensive review of quantitative data – to gain a clearer, richer picture of health and well-being in the South St. Petersburg community. Overall, the report tells the story of neighborhoods buoyed by a strong sense of community and engaged residents that remain plagued by stark geographic and racial disparities.
- Focus group participants sited a strong sense of community and engaged residents willing to volunteer their time and effort to help neighbors as community assets
- Focus group participants expressed a need for better-paying jobs and economic opportunities, improved access to nutritious foods and healthcare, and increased neighborhood safety.
- Interviews with leaders highlighted a strong sense of community and engaged/dedicated residents and local organizations as neighborhood strengths and called increased collaboration to shift power and improve access and utilization of resources.
- Quantitative data revealed significant disparities for South St. Petersburg compared to Pinellas County as a whole in the areas of chronic disease, neighborhood safety, and maternal-infant health. Using Census tract data, the report shows that South St. Pete residents are more than 3.5 times as likely to die from gun violence than residents of Pinellas County as a whole, and nearly eight times as likely to die from homicide (see page 42 of report for details). They’re also more than twice as likely to die from chronic illnesses like diabetes and liver disease, and nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease (page 42). These differences become even more pronounced when focusing on areas with the highest concentrations of Black residents.
“As a data-informed organization, we measure and highlight these gaps and disparities so that we can collectively change them – because they can and must be changed,” said Foundation President and CEO Dr. Kanika Tomalin. “We focus on health and the conditions and environments that shape our health because in our community we still experience different outcomes according to our racial demographics. This is unacceptable. There is no just cause for this. Nothing about it is fair or right. And, everything about it can be changed. So, together, with our ecosystem of partners, that’s what we work to do.”
In addition to exploring health outcomes and well-being, the report offers strategies for improving health and the conditions and environments that shape it. These include building on past and current efforts; improving communication and outreach to avoid duplication of services and improve resource utilization; involving residents in the design and implementation of solutions/interventions to improve effectiveness and buy-in; focusing on upstream systemic changes to maximize impact.
The report is available on the Foundation’s website.
About the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg
The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg is a private foundation formed in 2013 following the sale of the nonprofit Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. As the steward of an endowment to support health equity in Pinellas County, the Foundation leads, funds, advocates, and partners to create a community in which all people can lead healthy lives. The Foundation advances racially equitable health outcomes by improving the systems and conditions that shape them. It opened its Center for Health Equity in 2019. To learn more, visit https://healthystpete.foundation/