Saturday, September 4, 2010

Brownfield Grant Writing Tip #11 - Demographics

To strengthen the community need criterion for brownfield grants, you should look to cite demographic information that will best describe the challenges of the community being served.  You should select the type of demographic information to support your proposal based on your assessment of what information will make the best case that your community needs brownfield funding. Here are some examples:
Health/ Welfare/Environment:

  1. Asthma rates among children

  2. The incidence of illness amongst the population in contact with the site

  3. cancer, diabetes, obesity rates in the community

  4. Health care access

  5. Teen pregnancy rate

  6. Number of vulnerable inhabitants (women of childbearing age, children, the elderly)

  7. Information showing that the targeted community is disproportionately impacted by the environmental issues of the site (e.g. sizes and numbers of brownfield sites, suspected or known level of contamination, past uses of the site etc.)

  8. Crime rate

  9. Education levels and other education statistics (e.g. graduation rate, drop out rate)


Socio-Economic:

  1. Low property values

  2. Low tax base for the community

  3. Percentage of the community unemployed/underemployed

  4. Percentage of the community below the poverty line

  5. Factors that make leveraging funds for addressing the site difficult

  6. Percentage of community on welfare


Tools for locating this information for your community:

http://www.Fedstats.gov
- This website provides links to all relevant agencies based on your search criteria, such as income, health, labor, education, and crime levels and allows you to search by state as well.

http://www.Census.gov - This website is the home page of the U.S. Census Bureau and provides statistics on economics, employment, health, housing, employment, and other categories. You can search by state, and find detailed reports on each state.

http://www.Factfinder.census.gov - This webpage provides information on a more specific area than Census.gov. You can search by state, but also by zip code to find statistics on your specific community.

Good Luck!