 | Rebuilding Healthy Neighborhoods for Children and Families in New Orleans Investigators: Thomas Farley, MD, MPH; Traci Hong, PhD This project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, focuses on the opportunity to rebuild flood-damaged neighborhoods in ways that promote health for families and children. This project featured both an education component and a survey compoent. For education, members of the project team worked with city planning committees to educate them about "healthy neighborhood" ideas and to advocate for inclusion of these concepts in city and state plans. The survey component consisted of three survey modes: random digit dialing telephone survey, face-to-face surveys in trailer parks, and an Internet survey. A total of 1,073 returned and displaced residents of Orleans parish participated in the survey. Respondents included in the final sample were persons who (a) lived in Orleans Parish two weeks prior to Hurricane Katrina and (b) have returned, plan to return, or are uncertain about returning to live in the city. Former residents who have decided not to return were excluded. The survey asked residents about their priorities for rebuilt neighborhoods, including both neighborhood quality survey questions (e.g., safety, compactness, diversity, convenience to transit, etc.) and neighborhood feature survey questions (e.g., sidewalks, bike paths, grocery stores, lack of liquor stores, billboards, etc.). Survey participants rated the importance of 24 neighborhood characteristics on a 5-point Likert-like scale. Overall, the most important feature to New Orleans residents was a low crime rate, followed by good street lighting. The results of the survey have been summarized in a report presented to the planning bodies, including both city-wide responses and priorities broken down by neighborhood planning district. As part of this research project, the Prevention Research Center created this brochure to show what a healthy New Orleans could look like. We've also compiled a list of resources for rebuilding healthy neighborhoods. The PRC has received supportive press coverage on the resident priorities survey and the overall project: | | |
