The NAACP announced its latest collaboration late last week, partnering with global healthcare company Sanofi to create a health equity map.
Based on the ACE Your Health Community Wellness survey, the map, titled “Black Communities’ Health: In Plain Sight,” gives voice to almost 23,000 residents across the U.S., the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Through the map, users can assess how race, gender and geography impact access to rights such as clean water, clean air, healthy food, quality healthcare, responsive providers, safe neighborhoods and safe housing.
To create the map, the NAACP and Sanofi, along with assistance from CommunityWorks and Us At Spaces LLC, looked at the responses of 22,689 residents. Among their findings, they found that although 63% of participants lived with at least one chronic condition, only 28% of people earning less than $20,000 live near hospitals. People with higher incomes tended to live closer to hospitals instead.
Only 38% also said that they have clean water accessible to them.
“Black communities have always known what they face,” said Dr. Chris Pernell, Director of the NAACP Center for Health Equity, in a press release. “Now, nearly 23,000 voices have made their insights undeniable. This map is not just data; it’s about sharing their testimony. It shows, block by block and ZIP code by ZIP code, where racial inequities have shaped health outcomes for generations.”
To address equity investment, the NAACP identified several areas for improvement, including transportation access, food access, housing and environmental conditions, as well as chronic stress.
The housing crisis specifically is an issue amongst Black Americans. Per USA Today, Black Americans are the most burdened by the housing crisis.
Approximately 32% of households headed by Black homeowners said that they were also cost-burdened. In comparison, only 22% of households headed by white owners said that they were cost-burdened as well.
The housing crisis continues to grow for those considered the most vulnerable.
Two years ago, only approximately 3.8 million affordable units were available for over 11 million low-income households to compete for.
Per the National Low Income Housing Coalition, as of this year, there is still a shortage across the U.S. for affordable homes for low-income renters. The shortage equates to approximately 7.2 million homes.
“The findings from The Gap show that no state or major metropolitan area has an adequate supply of affordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters,” said NLIHC President and CEO Renee M. Willis per a report.“It is a sad fact that only one in four households who qualify for housing assistance receive it. When renters are housing cost-burdened, they cannot afford to cover other basic necessities such as food, healthcare, transportation, or childcare.”
