Community Assessment Windshield Survey: Obesity Arkansas

Assignment: Windshield Survey/Community Assessment: Obesity Arkansas
Name
Walden paper
Date
 Introduction 
Arkansas has one of the highest rates in the U.S. and this includes the African American community in Levi neighborhood at North Little Rock in Pulaski County.  The community has lived in   the area for centuries and while there have been changes in demographics the problem of obesity has affected the different communities.  Schools in North Little Rock were segregated until the late 1950s and 1960s when the school district was open to admitting African American students in North Little Rock schools. Little Rock is a diversity city,  and in  Levi, North Little Rock s are high health disparities when compared to the rest of the state.   Even though, there are few industries the city has a low cost of living, and has attracted immigrants to the city. The North Little Rock City is approximately 47.2% white, 42.5% black and 6.49% Hispanic (Data USA, 2018).  While the African American population is substantial in the city, they are socioeconomically disadvantaged and mostly live in food insecure areas.   
Photographs of the selected area of the community 
Windshield Survey findings
In the metropolitan area, the obesity rate is more than 30% and this indicates that the problem is not unique to Little Rock, but it is more difficult to access health care services and interventions in the area.  One of the reasons for this is the high poverty rates, which is associated with low health care coverage and higher out-of-pocket health care costs.   Levi is the most diverse neighborhood in North Little Rock with substantial black, white and Hispanic populations, and the area is working class (Data USA, 2018). The people mostly worship in various protestant Christian denominations including the United Methodist Church and Baptists and the presence of churches in the community indicates the importance of religion in the people’s life.  Nonetheless, as there are few resources which to provide health care, the residents’ health outcomes are worse than those of the state, and there is higher risk of chronic conditions and poor nutritional status The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs have been initiated since 2010 promote healthy living including supporting environmental changes. This is important, since people at the local level are more actively involved  in obesity prevention.
Vulnerable Population and Available Resources
The low-income residents, black and Hispanic people are at higher risk of being overweight or obese among the Little Rock population. To ensure the success of the obesity prevention initiatives, there is focus on the high-risk-populations, which will promote healthy living and changes supported throughout the community (Flattum et al., 2015).    In the 2010 census there we 62, 304 people and 35% of all adults were obese or overweight or obese in the metro area, and North Little Rock being in this region (CDC, 2018). At the same time, 37.5% of students in the district were obese while 47% of the Hispanic students and 41% of the black student...