The purpose of this assignment is to introduce you to databases containing population focuses data. Understanding where to find data and what is publicly available can strengthen the development of the community assessment process. This assignment will be part of your Community Assessment.

Part 1
The mission of the United States Census Bureau is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy. Data collection occurs every 10 years.
    Utilizing the United States Census Bureau website open the American Fact Finder (Links to an external site.) page
    Under Community Facts, put in a zip code of your chosen population (or one within or close to your group) and hit go.
    On the left and toolbar, go to the bottom and select Show All.
    Review the demographic descriptions and measures.
o    How could this data be useful in planning health promotion activities for your population? Provide at least 4 specific examples.
    Look at the poverty rates for your zip code. How do they compare with the poverty rates in other zip codes within your county or a neighboring county.
Part 2
The Florida Department of Health maintains a site, Florida Health Charts (Links to an external site.), which is a valuable source of data on Florida and Florida Counties. This site can provide a large amount of information on your county and zip code. Explore the interactive map feature (under Community Tools, Community Map) which will provide a visual of which area of the selected county has the highest number of cases for specific health conditions. Explore…..it is fun!
Look at Health Indicators for your county (in Florida). Spend time exploring the countys “Chronic Diseases”, Behavioral Risk Factor Data and Social & Behavioral Health. Compare your county’s rates with Floridas rates. It is expected that this exercise will take at least 3 hours. Based on your investigation of secondary data, summarize in 2 pages data that you feel is particularly significant about your county.
If your county is outside of Florida, explore your states health department web site to see if there is a similar resource. If there isnt, pick a county in Florida – The University of Florida is located in Alachua County.

***For the first part, you can use the zip code 07960-Morristown, NJ.
For the second part, you can just use Alachua County in Florida.