Paige Kruza, UC Berkeley School of Public Health Final Applied Project — Landscape Architecture C188, Section 104

Data Sources Contra Costa County, California, Mapping Information Center: City Limits; County Boundary Line; Public School Sites; Water Bodies.

Healthy Richmond: Logic Model Narrative; Map of Healthy Richmond Focus Area.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission: AC Transit, AC TransBay, and WestCAT bus routes and bus stops; Officially-designated bicycle routes.

Dr. Radke (via C188 course website): Contra Costa County Streets.

U.S. Census Bureau: TIGER/Line Shapefiles with Block Group Level Data from the 2006-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Identified Ideal Potential Pilot Sites Coronado Elementary School

Lovoyna Dejean Middle School

Verde Elementary School

Explanatory Note:

Knowing that the Healthy Richmond coalition has existing relationships with some WCCUSD schools (and/or administrators and facilities staff), I did not include any constraints in my suitability analysis. I also chose not to mathematically combine the weights assigned to the two suitability priorities, because the coalition may wish to prioritize the transportation more than I did.

Applied Project Inquiry Question

Which schools in Richmond, CA are ideal pilot sites for comprehensive, neighborhood-based school-services collaborations? Which 3-5 sites should be considered to be the single pilot site?

This applied project supports one of Healthy Richmond’s strategies to build strong families, resilient children and youth, and safe neighborhoods.

Given the areas and issues that the Healthy Richmond coalition has prioritized, ideal sites for a pilot phase of this type of school-services partnership need to be part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, and accessible to:   residents of the Healthy Richmond focus area,

  other vulnerable communities, and

  a large number of Richmond households (and especially ones likely to need social services/ government assistance).

Background – Healthy Richmond

The Healthy Richmond initiative engages Richmond residents, local nonprofits and businesses, and city and county government entities to create meaningful and lasting improvements in the health of children and youth in Richmond.

Their four primary goals address economic development, neighborhood safety, access to healthcare, and public education within Richmond, California. This work is intended to reduce the degree to which people of color, poor people, and other marginalized communities experience worse health outcomes than white people, middle-class and wealthy people, and other populations with greater opportunities and privileges.

The Healthy Richmond initiative is especially focused on the neighborhoods within and close to the “Iron Triangle” neighborhood (outlined in the image below). To further complicate matters, the focus area includes some unincorporated land that falls under the jurisdiction of Contra Costa County even though it is effectively surrounded by the city of Richmond. Richmond also surrounds the cities of San Pablo and El Cerrito.

Vector-Based Suitability Analysis

Overlay: 3 Market Analyses x 2 Cumulative-Opportunity Suitability Analyses

3 Market Analyses 3 Market Analyses + Accessibility to Cheap Transportation 3 Market Analyses + Vulnerable Block Groups

Ideal Pilot Sites for Comprehensive School-Services Collaborations

Network Analysis: Maximum Market Share and Target Market Share Given that the 10 sites with a 10 minute impedance resulted in a market share of 98.3%, which also not being particularly meaningful, I identified 5 sites to maximize the market share of the (estimated) number of Richmond households living in poverty, with a 5 minute impedance set to ensure that the locations were as close as possible to the households in poverty. After calculating a number of target market shares and repeatedly getting either 1-2 identified sites or more than 5 sites (neither of which was useful, since I want sites that are readily accessible, while still having the pilot site able to reach a large market share), this calculation was the most useful.

My initial calculation—to get a sense of what was possible given the data—was to identify 10 sites that would maximize the market share of the (estimated) number of Richmond households whose total income over the past 12 months was below the poverty level, with a 10 minute impedance set. While I had originally kept all schools within the West Contra Costa Unified School District as possible sites because WCCUSD is a member of the Healthy Richmond coalition, I realized that because the cities of San Pablo and El Cerrito (which are not part of the coalition) were mostly surrounded by different areas of the city of Richmond, it made more sense to exclude those sites—otherwise many of the most centrally located schools would not end up being in Richmond at all.

Finally, to ensure that the sites were also readily accessible to most households in Richmond and the neighbouring unincorporated areas (regardless of their household income), I identified the minimum number of sites to achieve a target market share of at least 90% of all households, with a 10 minute impedance. That way, to be included in the market share, the sites had to be no more than a 10 minute “ideal” drive (assuming one ca travel at the posted speed limit without having to stop for traffic lights, stop signs, pedestrians, other vehicles, etc). I doubled the impedance for this calculation since households not living in poverty are more likely to have a vehicle and not be solely reliant on public transportation or their ability to walk.

Buffers around bicycle routes, weighted according to proximity to route and connection to the focus area.

Percentage of residents (25 years and older) without a high school diploma or GED.

Percentage of residents (18-64 years old) with low or no ability to speak or understand English.

Percentage of residents under the age of 18.

= + +

Service Area for all school sites, showing the street-constrained distance from the sites, then weighted according to proximity to site.

First priority: Site Proximity to Free and Low-Cost Modes of Transportation

Accessibility of possible school sites to no-cost and low-cost modes of transportation, with prioritization for bus and bicycle routes that pass through (or within a ¼ mile of) the Healthy Richmond focus area.

Second priority: Site Neighbourhood Demographics

Identifying census block groups with particularly vulnerable residents who would benefit from a neighbourhood-based social services site

Percentage of residents who are people of color (non-white people plus white Hispanics).

= + + +

Service Area for street-constrained distance to bus stops, weighted according to proximity to stations and whether bus routes pass through/near the focus area.