Communities Healthy in Toronto: An Investigation of Three Neighbourhoods in the Greater Metropolitan Area
A class project Sociology 394Y University of Toronto
Project Team: Brent Berry (instructor) Stella Park (editor) Jeff Denis Denise Gordon Samantha Haralampous Jonathan Ho Lauren Keegan Melissa Mandool Diana Raymond Michael Vansickle Anne Warner Victoria Zylberberg
Table of Contents
Executive Summary......... Introduction and Project Aims........ Theory: Why Might Neighbourhoods and Surrounding Environments Matter? Data and Methods Study Neighbourhoods: History and Description The St James Town Neighbourhood, Downtown Toronto The Yorkwoods/Grandravine Neighbourhood & Jane-Finch.. The Warden Woods Neighbourhood in Southwest Scarborough. Measures and Methods. Primary Data Collection Efforts Secondary Sources of Data.... Results and Discussion The Determinants of Healthy Communities.. Socioeconomic Status (SES): Earnings ...... Educational Attainment .. Jobs, Occupation...... A Place to Call Home: Neighbourhood Turnover and Retention. Family Structure Race and Ethnicity. Transportation Characteristics of Social and Physical Environments Assessing Social Capital with a Letter Drop Experiment. Assessing Social and Physical (Dis)organization and (Dis)order by describing a Streetscape. Environmental Contaminants and Hazards Understanding Neighbourhoods by their Consumer Preferences: An Analysis of Marketing Information.. Focus Groups with Study Neighbourhood Residents: Health, Stress, and Community Resources... Service Environment: Description A Geographic Birds-Eye View. 22 22 24 25 29 32 32 35 37 37 40 42 44 49 54 60 9 9 12 16 19 20 20 1 3 5
Conclusion. Appendix A: Transcript of Focus Group Conversations... Appendix B: Summary of Expert Interviews Appendix C: Coding Scheme for Systematic Observation Appendix D1. Census Charts and Tables. Appendix D2. Letter Drop Experiment Result Tables. Appendix D3. Systematic Social Observation Tables.. Appendix D4. Environmental Contaminant Tables. Appendix D5. Marketing Neighbourhood Profile Tables.
63 64 64 65 66 72 73 74 76
References.. 78 Endnotes 85 Special Section: DIRECTORY OF COMMUNITY SERVICES 87
Executive Summary
This project investigates the settings and characteristics of residents in three distinct Toronto neighbourhoods that promote or jeopardize the health of communities. Individual health, well-being, and life chances are consequences of not only personal or household circumstances, but also of the settings in which life takes place. The purpose of this project is to (1) investigate the individual and household circumstances of the residents in our three study neighbourhoods, (2) to investigate the neighbourhood and broader surroundings relevant to the health of the community and (3) to catalogue the community and service resources. Several types of data were collected: focus group discussions, expert interviews, systematic social observation, pseudo-experimental social capital experiments, archived historical documents, Census data, and Marketing information. A small group of University of Toronto undergraduate students has worked closely with three communities in the Greater Toronto Area: St. James Town in Downtown, Yorkwoods in the broader Jane/Finch area, and Warden Woods in southwest Scarborough. The results of four months of data collection, community interaction, and analysis of evidence suggests that each neighbourhood has unique strengths and challenges for maintaining and improving the well-being of residents. Common Strengths and Challenges: First, each of our study communities is characterized by a high level of racial and ethnic diversity, arming citizens with the cultural capital and sensitivity to excel in an increasingly diverse Canadian society. Second, despite some limitations in the areas of child care and perceptions of crime, there is a dedicated and broad range of services in each of our communities (these resources are highlighted in the Service Section). Third, public transportation links in each of our communities is also quite adequate, enabling residents to reach job centers in a reasonable amount of time and cost. This report expands on this small list of community strengths. Despite the many tangible and intangible strengths of these communities, residents in all three study areas are challenged by tougher-than-average individual circumstances, including greater likelihood of having low income and educational attainment, as well as being unemployed. The cultural benefit of cultural enclaves in these communities is offset by problems linked to high levels of English as a second language. Residents in these study neighbourhoods are also more likely to be single parents who are torn in different directions by work-family commitments. At a community level, the fabric of our neighbourhoods is more frequently challenged by residential turnoverresearch suggests that high turnover communities are less healthy. Much of this is due to the high ratio of renters to owners. Overall, the neighbourhood based approach to understanding the health of communities is a fruitful one because it emphasizes collective problems and collective solutions. The rich variety of information amassed to characterize the historical context and the social and physical environments of neighbourhoods and the residents who live within them offer up a more complete way to understand the health of communities. A broader approach focusing on this array of determinants is a promising step for
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understanding how to improve communities. We hope that this effort and future efforts to extend this work will foster and contribute to the discussion of healthy neighbourhoods in Toronto.
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Introduction and Project Aims
Health and well-being are not uniform across Toronto's many neighbourhoods. There are many potential sources for these differences. First, people residing in some communities may be worse off because they suffer from difficult individual or household circumstances, such as poverty, low education, stressful work related situations, family conflicts, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and poor health behaviors. Second, some communities are also disadvantaged in terms of the social resources available to residents--role models, aggression and violence, stress, and little social interaction. Risks arising from physical environments also vary, including noise, pollution, traffic, lack of recreational amenities, and physical environments that diminish the capacity of residents to function territorially to protect themselves and their neighbours from negative elements. Despite a clear difference between communities in life expectancy, educational outcomes, level of disability, crime, and other measures of well-being, the most important causes of these community differentials are still unclear. Part of this confusion stems from the fact that a complex web of factors determines these outcomes, encompassing individual initiative/agency, local environmental exposures, institutional resources, and societal-level priorities. It is becoming increasingly clear that building healthy communities requires comprehensive strategies aimed not solely at individual and household level circumstances, but rather on strategies that seriously target the common social and physical settings in which people live. Furthermore, building healthy communities requires going outside the settings that most health related practitioners inhabit, ceding control, power, and resources to the communities themselves. This project investigates the healthiness of communities by focusing in its many causes in three Toronto neighbourhoods. In particular, we focus on three disadvantaged yet distinct communities in relation to the greater Toronto area. The first community is St. James Town, an area in downtown Toronto. St. James Town is a high-density community on the east side of the downtown area. The two other areas (Yorkwoods and Warden Woods) are neighbourhoods with substantial public housing stock in the inner suburbs (North York and Scarborough). Within Toronto, the suburbs (North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke) have been most affected by decreasing average income levels, high unemployment, and growing poverty in the 1990s. Neighbourhoods in these suburbs are also amongst the most diverse in Toronto in terms of immigration and ethnicity. Thus, the three chosen communities reflect this criterion. Furthermore, we take into account the geographical uniqueness of each community. This project represents the culmination of a yearlong undergraduate course titled Urban Health in Toronto. It has offered a select group of students the opportunity to examine the complex causes of health as well as the problems inherent in doing social research. Besides its valuable role in training the next generation of researchers, this project has the following research aims:
Document how the healthiness of communities (measured as education, health and behavioural outcomes) varies among the three study neighbourhoods and from Toronto as a whole.
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Investigate and profile the potential individual and household level correlates of outcomes in the study neighbourhoods Investigate and profile the potential social and physical environmental-level correlates of outcomes in the study neighbourhoods Investigate and profile the potential service environmental-level correlates of the outcomes in the study neighbourhoods Compile and efficiently present local resources and contacts for residents who wish to address their own individual, household, and community urban health issues
The report consists of six main sections. First, we discuss the theoretical basis for focusing on neighbourhoods as appropriate units for understanding and alleviating disparities in health. Second, we describe the history of each neighbourhood as well as their unique characteristics today. Third, we examine the individual and household characteristics of residents of the study neighbourhoods compared to the Greater Toronto Area. Fourth, we examine the social and environmental settings in the neighbourhoods, addressing issues of collective trust, social capital, social organization, environmental contaminants, and the built environment. Fifth, we review and examine the service providers located within and close to our communities, including schools, clinics, cultural amenities, public transportation, grocery stores, and police stations. Sixth, we tie many of the individual and environmental determinants together by reviewing focus group held in each neighbourhood. Each section also discusses the challenges that were encountered by the researchers during the study. This discussion of limitations overviews the subjective nature of social science data and methods, highlighting the need for broad based approaches to urban health problems.
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Theory
Why Might Neighbourhoods and Surrounding Environments Matter? Neighbourhoods are extremely important social units for three reasons: they represent a major source of our social identities, they circumscribe the realm of opportunities, and they are amenable to social programs and policy intervention. The prevailing approach to intervention for health behaviors at the individual level has typically been individual level programs. The long-term impacts of these interventions are in question: follow-ups often show recidivism of some form. A more comprehensive re-structuring of social environments remains a relatively untested approach. If money is dedicated to a broad spectrum of neighbourhood resources and programs, there is the opportunity to change the trajectories of whole populations, as well as have more comprehensive impacts on prevention. Numerous social theories suggest why the neighbourhood may be the ideal target for improving the conditions and life chances of residents. The most general theoretical links between places and various outcomes, such as education, health, crime, involve the structure of places, can be organized into those that link the physical structure of places to health, and those that link the social structure of places to health. Three types of mechanisms have been specified in theories about the relationship between place and health. First are mechanisms that directly link the physical or social structures of places to individual functioning or biology. Second are those that propose that effects of macrolevel physical or social structures are mediated by other social factors, including other social structures. Finally, there are theories that propose interactions between physical and social structures of places, or between those physical/social structures and individual characteristics of people. A review of all the theoretical mechanisms is beyond the scope of this proposal. We focus in particular on mediators of the effects of physical and social structure of places on health.
Figure 1. The Links Between Settings and Healthy Communities Indirect Pathways Social environment Physical environment
Direct Pathways
Healthy Communities: Education Crime Health
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Physical Aspects of Places and Outcomes There are a number of links between physical aspects of places and healthy communities. First, toxins in the physical environment can directly influence human health (Eggleston, Buckley, Breysse, Wills-Karp, Kleeberger, and Jaakkola 1999; Schwela 2000). These toxins include chemical compounds (Massaad, Entezami, Massade, Benahmed, Olivennes, Barouki, and Hamamah 2002), molds (Jarvis 2002; Savilahti, Uitti, Roto, Laippala, and Husman 2001), bacteria and fungus (Massaad et al. 2002), molds (Jarvis 2002; Savilahti et al. 2001), pesticides (Massaad et al. 2002), molds (Jarvis 2002; Savilahti et al. 2001), and particulate matter and Cryptosporidium in drinking water (Massaad et al. 2002). In response to living near toxic risks, communities often mobilize in hope of doing something about the problem, providing a collective issue through which communities can function territorially (Massaad et al. 2002). Other aspects of physical environments are relevant to health communities. There are a host of issues in the built environment that hinder or nurture health, including opportunities for residential surveillance; attractive exteriors; real barriers that separate the residential area into manageable sectors (Perkins, Brown and Taylor 1996). Problems of litter, dilapidation, and graffiti, lack of shrubs, trees and gardens tend to send messages that residents do not value the public spaces interspersed in their community, hence opening the community to further victimization and social disorganization (Perkins, Brown, and Taylor 1996). It is not so much that these conditions themselves deter health, but rather these conditions collectively promote a climate not conducive to healthy communities. Other links between the physical environment that scholars have studied include the link between transience and trust (Sampson and Groves 1989) and the impact of physical environment on ties to the larger metropolitan area and local community (Ross, Mirowsky, and Pribesh 2002) Social Aspects of Places and Outcomes In any community, there are a large number of social processes underway that both promote and detract from health and well-being. As with the physical environment, there are factors with both direct and indirect influences on health. Aggregate income inequality within places may directly impact through producing feelings of shame and stress among those at the bottom (Wilkinson RG 1998); Kawachi et al (Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner, and Prothrow-Stith 1997) suggest that unequal income distributions create a social environment with lower levels of social capital, and thus, higher rates of poor health. The Group Threat Hypothesis suggests that health is directly influenced by stressful feelings of perceived threat due to increasing minority populations in neighbourhoods of the dominant group. On the other hand, high income inequality within a community may benefit the less well-off because there may be greater public resources. Social environments have a lot of what social scientists term diffuse influences. Diffuse health influences include things in the social environment like role models, cultural or subcultural messages, collective norms, mistrust, collective efficacy, discrimination, and social and cultural capital. These influences are diffuse because their range of influence, their origins, and their action on individuals do not take place within
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formal social organizations or through formal processes, but rather here and there and everywhere around us. We are embedded in a sea of diffuse influences. Space constrained peer groups and role models influence attitudes about risky behaviour, health, and health maintenance (Brown, Clasen, and Eicher 1986; Brown 1990); Individuals act in accordance with their reference group. Turner and Killians (Turner 1972) emergent norms theory suggest that individuals assess the likely approval or disapproval of others before acting), which is likely to be spatially patterned (Ackerlof and Kranton 2000); Localized subcultures form in areas where residents have limited life chances (i.e. the dominant cultures goals are difficult for the local group to attain), are highly segregated, and have dense local social networks (Merton 1968). Intense social bonds develop in such areas because there are few links outside the social area-- creating a critical mass for subculture formation (Ackerlof and Kranton 2000; Fischer 1976). Illegitimate institutions and deviant role models arise in these environments (Cloward and Ohlin 1960); Personal contacts from an individuals social network are an important resource that aid in securing a rewarding work or receiving advice and psychological support in times of stress (Granovetter 1995). The combination of high density, high segregation, and limited access promotes communalism, a situation where local social ties are strong but the community is cut off from other areas because of the absence of weak ties or bridging social capital to the remainder of the metropolis (LaGory 1983). Another diffuse mediator linking social aspects of places to health is discrimination (Kennedy, Kawachi, Lochner, Jones, and Prothrow-Stith 1997; LaVeist 1992; LeClere, Rogers, and Peters 1997; Williams 1997; Williams and Chung 1999); the contact hypothesis (Deutsch & Collins 1951; Allport, 1954; Pettigrew 1998) suggests that ethnic or racial composition of places effects discrimination through opportunities for cooperative contact among equal status participant, but that contact among unequals can foster discrimination. While diffuse influences are very important to fostering healthy communities, a lot of socialization and influence takes place in Formalized Institutions: formal organizations that are important to health promotion -- clinics, schools, libraries, recreation, and law enforcement; churches in black communities as mediators between disadvantaged social structural conditions and health (LaVeist 1992; LaVeist 1993); neighbourhood groups (Fitzpatrick and LaGory 2000). The family as an organization is another important mediator between social aspects of place and health (Burton and Jarrett 2000; Wilson 1987). families in poor areas may provide a buffer to the deleterious effects of poor neighbourhoods on health and other developmental outcomes (Robert 1998; South and Crowder 1999; Upchurch 1999). Now that we have reviewed some of the ways that physical and social aspects of places directly and indirectly influence the health of community, what are some of the hypotheses that are relevant to this project? Four hypotheses include: The Network Ties/ Interaction set of hypotheses, in which structural characteristics of neighbourhood networks impede or facilitate health promotion behaviour and health risk (depending on the inclinations of network members); The Institutional Resources hypothesis, which gauges existing institutions, community groups, and resource organizations and their mandates to assess impacts on health risk and health outcomes (both (1) and (2) tap aspects of social capital); The Heterogeneity hypothesis, which emphasizes effects on health outcomes due to the presence of social, ethnic, economic, and citizenship
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heterogeneity within neighbourhoods --- such effects may be positive or negative, depending on the group and the issue targeted. This hypothesis emphasizes the importance of variability rather than the means of neighbourhoods; The Collective Consciousness hypothesis, which argues for the impact of "neighbourhood awareness" and the effects of shared views of efficacy, trust, and the future. There are two variants here: one emphasizing the average view per neighbourhood, and one emphasizing the degree of consensus or variability of views within neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods with shared views will be either a risk or a protective factor to health, depending on the views. Collective trust with high consensus will suggest positive health outcomes; high collective mistrust with high consensus will suggest poor outcomes. With these theoretical mechanisms in mind, we investigate the physical and social environments of three neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. In effort to measure the aspects of these neighbourhoods most reflective of these theoretical mechanism, the project team engaged in focus groups, expert interviews, direct systematic observation, and indirect experimental approaches for assessing collective trust and social capital. The project team also examined several existing data sources, including the Canadian Census, city records, existing service directories, and marketing information. Before describing the data and results, first we will introduce the neighbourhoods.
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The Study Neighbourhoods: History and Description
The St. James Town Neighbourhood, Downtown Toronto Once described by Patricia McHugh as "15 somber towers ... cheerlessly extruding a population of 15,000 souls 16 to 33 stories into the sky, " St. James Town is a community with special characteristics and needs. St. James Town began in the 1870's as a desirable upper middle class neighbourhood. It was filled with picturesque Victorian houses and remained popular with Toronto homebuyers until well into the 1900's (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003). A turning point for the St. James Town neighbourhood occurred in 1953 when the City of Toronto announced major zoning amendments for the downtown core. The new zoning significantly increased building coverage in St. James Town making it an instant target for private developers. By the end of the 1950's, a consortium of developers had bought up and demolished St. James Town's entire housing stock in order to build Toronto's first high-rise residential apartment towers. The arrival of new construction technologies combined with rising land prices encouraged developers to engage in high-density site planning by constructing high-rise apartment buildings, allowing for a large return on a small property. This kind of residential planning proved to be as economically viable in single building projects as in multi-structure developments built over several city blocks. The arrival of Toronto's subway system in 1954 had a special impact on this type of development, triggering the construction of several pockets of high-rise development along its route (City of Toronto, 2003).
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Presently, St. James Town is a high turnover community that is often viewed as a place from which people move up. Newcomers to Canada make up a large proportion of the population. SJT has turnover rate is approximately 62% every 5 years (1996 Census data), as new immigrants settle and move on. The transitional nature of this community is often seen as a negative feature that contributes to social disorganization within this neighbourhood. However, this communitys fluidity also contributes to the cultural diversity of the neighbourhood that is reflected in many of the resources and services that are offered there (eg. home based informal child-care systems, culturally based organizations etc). The family income of the residents is 41% below the Toronto average and currently more than 12.4% are unemployed with a high proportion on social assistance and only 35% of families speaking English in the home (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003; 1996 census data). St. Jamestown contains eighteen high-rise apartment buildings, almost seven thousand units, and over fifteen thousand residents, in an area of 32.1 acres. St Jamestown's population increased 23% over the past fifteen years. As such, St Jamestown is the most densely populated neighbourhood in Canada. Yet, no new housing units have been built in order to accommodate this communitys rapid population growth. St Jamestown is made up of fourteen privately owned buildings and four apartment buildings that are owned by the Metro Toronto Housing Authority. These buildings offer typical marketplace rents that many residents consider "over-priced" for what they "have to put up with" (St. Jamestown focus group, 2003). The other four city-owned, apartment buildings offer rents geared towards income (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003). According to some of the participants in our urban health St Jamestown focus group, having rent geared to one's income prevents residents from being able to save for "better" housing. Many of these buildings are "run-down" and "unsafe" buildings that are unable to cope with its capacity. This is evidenced by long waits for elevators, overflowing garbage disposals, faulty electrical systems and plumbing that frequently breakdown (St. Jamestown Neighbourhood Walk, 2003). St. Jamestown's high-rise apartment buildings were built as an experimental design in the 1960s for single upwardly mobile singles and young couples. Some refer to the original design as a "yuppie utopia". This neighbourhood was not originally intended to house children. In fact, when the high-rise apartment buildings first replaced the Victorian houses1[i], it was against the law for children to live in St. James Town. Perhaps, this explains why city planners did not originally see the need for children's resources such as parks, playgrounds or a local daycare centre. This lack of safe places for children to play concerns many residents of St Jamestown, particularly when drug dealers have taken over many sites that may be used for parkettes or playgrounds (Carey, 2003). Consequently many
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parents restrict their children to the home or their apartment buildings. This has contributed to what community worker, Margaret Coshan, refers to as the village atmosphere of the neighbourhood (Interview with Margaret Coshan, March 2003). Many families in this community rarely venture outside of their apartment building to take advantage of services that are being offered locally. Therefore, the services that are being offered in this neighbourhood (e.g., after-4 programs, mother-tot drop-ins, youth center, and parenting classes), do not always reach the people who need them (Carey, 2003). Cabbagetown Youth Centre community workers have responded to this problem by creating recreational and educational programs that are run from the sub-basements of some of the apartment buildings. These programs are run without core funding and are therefore limited in terms of space and financial resources. While many community workers recognize the need for additional resources, many are concerned that programs created and run by "outsiders" who do not consider the unique features of this multicultural, multilingual, densely populated community may further isolate this neighbourhood's underserved populations. A number of community needs assessments undertaken in 1988, 1990 and 1996 for St. James Town and the surrounding area have confirmed that this area is significantly in need of additional community facilities. In September of 1997 the former City of Toronto council approved St. James Town 2000: A Community Action Plan which aims to revitalize St. James Town through initiatives such as the building of a multi-service community centre, improvements to parks, and the maintenance and repair of St. James Town buildings. The Action Plan is a revitalization strategy that focuses on an integrated planning approach that includes service co-ordination and partnerships, maximization of space and resources and responsiveness to a changing population. A number of partnerships with the City, MTHA, the Toronto District School Board, residents, service agencies and property owners have emerged in recent years. Community working groups have been established to undertake the various Action Plan initiatives. Co-ordination and support for these initiatives are provided through an interdepartmental staff team that meets on a regular basis. Many of these local organizations have worked tirelessly to address the needs of the community without the core funding. Growing together (see resource section) for example, served over 500 families in 2000. In 1998 the City approved $15 million of capital funding to construct a multi-service community centre, comprising a daycare, library and recreation centre. However, residents of St Jamestown had to wait until 2002 until the ground broke for the new Community Centre. The City has acquired the required site for $2.8 million, and an architect will be hired this fall to work with this community in facility design. In spite of years of planning and millions of dollars in government funding, the new community centre is being met with mixed feelings. Some members of the community are looking forward to new resources such as a local library, modern recreational facilities and increased job opportunities. While others fear that the community centre is a key element in the gentrification process that is placing further limitations on affordable housing in downtown Toronto (Coshan interview).
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The Yorkwoods-Grandravine Neighbourhood in the broader Jane Finch community Jane-Finch has been labelled Metros favourite urban problem and the Canadian version of Harlem (MTPF, 1987, p. 31). Located 25 miles northwest of downtown Toronto (i.e., in the former North York), the community has a reputation for violence, drugs, poverty, and other social problems (Hodge, 1983). Statistics confirm that it has higher levels of crime and unemployment, and lower levels of income than Toronto as a whole (see census data section). Jane-Finch is one of the most densely populated areas in Canada and has the highest percentage of single-parent families in Toronto (40-45%) (Carey, 2002). Perhaps the biggest problem, however, is its negative reputation. A 1985 survey of residents suggested that community reputation was the greatest source of dissatisfaction (MTPF, 1987).2 In our 2003 focus group, residents revealed similar frustrations with outsiders adverse perceptions. The truth is that JaneFinch is extremely diverse home to over 75,000 people, 100 ethnic groups, and 72 languages and has a tradition of community involvement and caring (City, 2000). Since the late 1970s, residents and community agencies have organized to improve safety, voter turnout, academic achievement, economic development, and the communitys image. The Jane-Finch area was originally inhabited by First Nations settlements near the Humber River (just north of Finch) (TN, 2003). In the late 18th century, British, Dutch and German pioneers converted the area into a large farming community, centered on the Elia Church and School. The post-World War II period was one of expansion and suburban development for Toronto (MTPF, 1987). Virtually all of the current housing in Jane-Finch was built after 1960, as reflected in demographic shifts. For example, the population of Jane-Finch increased from 1,301 in 1961 to 34,095 in 1971 (ibid).3 At the same time, the population composition changed. Increasing proportions of Italian, Caribbean, Latin American, and East Asian immigrants settled in the area. Many residents were attracted by the growing industrial and commercial job opportunities and the well-connected transportation system (e.g., Highways 400 and 401, TTC). Jane-Finch was designed according to the neighbourhood plan concept (created by the North York Department of Planning & Development), which divided the area into 6 subcentres (MTPF, 1987). Each subcentre developed around a neighbourhood school and park. The housing stock contained a mixture of single-family homes, townhouses, and low- and high-rise apartments. In the 1960s, politicians and policymakers decided to establish several social housing units in Jane-Finch (e.g., Yorkwoods), as they sought to avoid the social problems associated with high-density urban housing. According to the Metro Toronto Police Forces (1987) Community Profile, The development of JaneFinch was prototypical of North American suburban development (p. 10). However, as the population increased and more social housing was built, adequate services (e.g.,
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immigration, employment) were not provided to keep pace with the growing disadvantaged (and new immigrant) populations. Meanwhile, the media branded JaneFinch as the black community with an epidemic of drugs, gangs, guns, and teenage mothers (McTair, 1997). In 1983, the documentary film, Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, stirred controversy by exposing racial tensions, particularly between the 31 Division police and the Jane-Finch community. Although Staff Inspector Clark denied the problems (I view the [police-community] relationships as very, very good), residents complained of harassment and beatings, and the video portrayed police insensitivity to community needs.4 Home Feeling also emphasized chronic problems in Jane-Finch, such as the lack of job opportunities and recreational facilities, and the stigma attached to the community generally and public housing specifically. The early 1990s appeared to be a time of hope and progress in Jane-Finch. In the beginning of the 1990s, working groups of residents and service providers in the JaneFinch area identified short- and long-term solutions to community problems.5 The 1997 film, Jane-Finch Again, discovered that many of the residents interviewed in Home Feeling had found jobs and were doing well. As one resident said, Why do I need to move? I like it here. Several public housing units had established tenants associations to improve safety and relations with police. Despite persistently high poverty rates and the negative popular perception, Jane-Finch produced many successful individuals, such as the well-known journalist Dwight Drummond. The latter was inspired by community activist, Greg Bobb, whose Unity Force youth group educated and empowered a generation to stand up for its rights and to make a life for themselves. The film also documented positive changes at 31 Division, such as more open meetings, better training, and awareness of community needs. Despite these improvements, police-community tensions remain a critical issue in Jane-Finch today. Partly spurred by a series of Toronto Star articles in the Fall of 2002, the community has made several recent attempts to address alleged racial profiling by the Toronto Police Services, including an open forum held on March 27, 2003 at the Oakdale Community Centre in Yorkwoods. Within the broader Jane-Finch Community, Yorkwoods is one of 6 neighbourhoods and 7 Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) sites (City, 2000).6 Located just east of Jane Street and two blocks south of Finch Avenue (at the intersection of Grandravine Drive and Driftwood Avenue), the neighbourhood consists of 306 TCHC townhouse units,7 five privately owned high-rise apartments, Oakdale Community Centre, Yorkwoods Junior Public School, Oakdale Park Middle School, and a small park (see map). Like Jane-Finch at large, Yorkwoods is culturally diverse and contains high rates of poverty and single parenthood (YSNP, 2000a). Its two most common languages are Somali and Spanish (TCHC, 2003). In some respects, Yorkwoods is a typical example of suburban planning gone wrong (McTair, 1997). The physical design of the TCHC site creates safety risks and impedes access for emergency services, delivery persons, and visitors (City, 2000). Yorkwoods has no internal roads. Instead, narrow concrete pedestrian pathways wind through the site, which is filled with hiding spots. Few units face public streets. Random relationships between front and rear yards entail a lack of privacy. Some residents walk great distances to deposit garbage in putrid-smelling collective bins; others live right next to them (MacNevin, 2003). Parking lots are located inconveniently at the edge of the site.
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The townhouses themselves are aging, and many have drafty windows and peeling paint.8 With tiny yards and no basements, the units offer inadequate living space for the large and extended families that often reside in them. Despite these structural problems, Yorkwoods neighbourhood has many assets, especially its residents and the recent attempts to improve their quality of life. When the TCHC housing site was built, it included a small recreation facility. However, this facility remained empty for several years due to lack of funding (MacNevin, 2003). Eventually, Moms on the Move occupied the space and converted it into a successful grocery store and training center. Local women learned job skills and gained employment in the broader community. Moms on the Move was publicly funded, but community initiated and operated. After a few years, however, the programs Board of Directors decided to relocate. The Jane-Finch Community Ministry took over, and established several community programs. In the late 1990s, the Ministry itself relocated and the Jane-Finch Boys & Girls Club moved in. Today, the Boys & Girls Club is one of the most well-used community services in Yorkwoods, offering afterschool programs for 6-12-year-olds, including computers, homework help, and recreation activities. Other major community services in the area are offered by the Oakdale Community Centre (which runs recreation programs for children and adults, such as parents and tots, arts and crafts, cooking, hip hop dance, karate, science discovery, reading for fun, aerobics and yoga)9 and the Lane Basketball Association (which hosts a popular annual basketball tournament and barbeque each summer) (MacNevin, 2003). July 1999 marked a turning point for Yorkwoods. At that time, 3-year-old resident, Breanna Davy, was killed by a gunshot intended for her father. This incident symbolized the neighbourhoods growing concerns with violence, crime, and safety. It provoked two major responses: the Jane-Finch Pilot Capital Project (PCP), and the Yorkwoods Safe Neighbourhood Project (YSNP). Following Breannas death, City Councilor Maria Augimeri initiated a series of roundtable discussions between residents, Mayors Office staff, the Commissioner of Community & Neighbourhood Services, TCHC staff, and Toronto Police Services staff (City, 2000). The discussions focused on public safety in Jane-Finch as a whole. City and TCHC staff agreed to work with community representatives on three initiatives: a community-based public art project (located at Driftwood Community Centre), a community needs assessment,10 and a pilot capital project focusing on Yorkwoods.11 The project aimed to improve safety in the Yorkwoods neighbourhood by applying four principles: partnership, resident participation, physical redesign, and enablement (i.e., empowerment, education, investment). In September 2000, the joint staff team developed a concept plan that proposed building new internal streets with additional lighting, sidewalks and street trees, creating pedestrian streets (i.e., internal walkways), giving homes clear municipal addresses, reducing hiding spaces, redesigning unsafe breezeways, and reorienting some of the units (e.g., creating standard front to front and rear to rear relationships). After receiving initial support from some Yorkwoods residents and a member of the YSNP, the joint staff team took the next year to revise the concept plan. At that point, however, residents overwhelmingly rejected the notion of building new internal streets (City, 2001). Although the planners and police argued that the streets would improve safety and access and better integrate Yorkwoods with the surrounding community, residents chief concerns were loss of space and traffic safety
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for children who would have to cross the street to get to school or play in the park. Local schools shared these concerns (MacNevin, 2003). In addition, residents complained of a lack of community consultation. Thus, the roads were never built. Nonetheless, several other aspects of the PCP have been implemented successfully (e.g., new lighting, cameras, garbage enclosures) (City, 2001). In January 1999, a Steering Committee comprised of 3-4 residents and several community agencies (i.e., Black Creek Community Health Centre, Doorsteps Neighbourhood Association, Toronto Public Health, Metro Toronto Housing Authority / TCHC, Building Brighter Futures, Parks and Recreation / Oakdale Community Centre, and Jane-Finch Boys & Girls Club) initiated a needs assessment of Yorkwoods (YSNP, 2000a). This work was interrupted by Breannas murder, which confirmed that the primary need was safety. Indeed, residents expressed worries about frequent gunshots, petty theft, drug trafficking, alcohol abuse, and youth hanging around with nothing to do. In 2000, the Steering Committee obtained funding from the National Crime Prevention Centre for the Yorkwoods Safe Neighbourhood Project (YSNP). The Project was to last three years.12 Its goal was to enhance the quality of life with the residents in the Yorkwoods neighbourhood by increasing individual and community safety using a community development model (YSNP, 2001a).13 Specific objectives included identifying and training community leaders, increasing resident involvement, establishing a residents council, identifying problems and strategies to improve safety, increasing cooperation and partnerships with service providers, and developing culturally sensitive community programs, services and activities. The YSNP began by hiring a project coordinator, two outreach workers, and a youth outreach worker (YSNP, October 2001). A Residents Group formed quickly. By 2001, up to 25 members met monthly at the Oakdale Community Centre. Several new partners joined the YSNP, including Humber River Regional Hospital, Youth Clinical Services, Delta Family Resource Centre, Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens, PEACH, CHRY Radio, and the Toronto Police Services. Many of these agencies provided workshops and presentations at Residents Group meetings, while others provided space, resources, and/or promotion. One successful initiative was the 2000-01 Youth Leadership Development Program, which included workshops (e.g., self-esteem, conflict management), rap sessions (e.g., youth violence, peer pressure), and program planning activities for 15 local youth (YSNP, January 2001). Participants received Leader in Training certificates and assistance in applying for jobs. Other achievements included a Community Clean-up and Barbecue, a Neighbours Night Out, a homework club, improved relations between residents and TCHC staff, resident attendance at Community Police Liaison meetings, and various attempts to improve police-community relations. In March 2002, a door-to-door survey of 95 TCHC households suggested that residents perceptions of safety had improved (YSNP, March 2002).14 Residents attributed their feelings of safety to the new security cameras and lighting, increased security and police, more activities for youth, and greater community involvement. However, many residents still felt the area was unsafe due to lack of security at night, continuing physical disrepair, and high levels of crime and violence. They suggested that more community meetings, services for children, security, and property enhancements would make Yorkwoods safer. Suzanne Jacksons most recent (March 2002) evaluation report showed that although residents perceptions of safety had improved, crime rates
15
had not. The YSNP had begun to achieve its objectives (e.g., support the Residents Group to implement strategies for community safety), but police-community relations showed little evidence of improvement.15 Considering that 52% of Yorkwoods residents are 16 years or younger, youth services remain inadequate (TCHC, 2003). In her evaluation, Jackson ominously foreshadowed a crisis in the Residents Group: there has not been enough history to ensure the long-term stability for this fledgling Residents Group and its ambitions to create a safe neighbourhood (p. 4). In mid-2002, the Chair resigned, new leaders took over, and conflict escalated (MacNevin, 2003). Eventually, the Group disbanded. Nevertheless, the YSNP survived. In February 2003, the Residents Group reformed. With the aid of an enthusiastic new Project Coordinator and a committed Chair, it is currently developing new Terms of Reference. The Group plans to implement a new tutoring program at Oakdale Park Middle School and several community events (e.g., Neighbours Night Out) this summer. A Crime Prevention Officer now sits on the Steering Committee, which has applied for funding for a much needed literacy program and for addressing poverty and health issues. Clearly, Yorkwoods (and Jane-Finch more generally) has struggled to overcome deeply entrenched disadvantages (i.e., negative reputation, racism, poverty), but the hope and will to survive and transcend these circumstances remains strong. Warden Woods, Scarborough: History and Context The Warden Woods neighbourhood is the first public housing project site in Scarborough and the third in Metropolitan Toronto (following Regent Park and Lawrence Heights). Located in southwest Scarborough (2 blocks south of Warden Street and St. Clair Avenue), this government housing project was completed in 1966 in order to accommodate a total of 347 family units as well as 392 senior citizen units. The Warden Woods neighbourhood includes the high-rise apartment at 1 Fir Valley Court, the Warden Woods Community Centre (WWCC) as well as the low-rise single detached and semidetached townhouses. Over the years, this particular community has been characterized by a high concentration of subsidized housing, low income and single parent families, and diverse ethnic communities. Even before the housing project was completed, the residents began moving into Warden Woods beginning the fall of 1963. The majority of these residents was of white Anglo-Saxon descent, and had moved from downtown Toronto, particularly from Cabbbagetown and St. Jamestown. Many of these people had been fishermen in the Maritimes before they arrived in Toronto; hence, they had faced a number of employment difficulties once they realized that their skills were of little use in Toronto. A few years later, in 1968, the opening of Warden subway station (at the southeast corner of Warden Avenue and St.Clair Avenue in 1968), contributed highly to the gradual residential development expansion in this area. During the post WWII era, heavy industrial land sites once dominated the area immediately north of Warden station, including the General Motors manufacturing plant. The Centennial College located just right across the street from Warden Woods was once an ammunition factory (Gertler, 2001). A central location in the community is the Warden Woods Community Centre, which is located just off Warden Avenue on the northwest side of the community. WWCC has played a major role in addressing the communitys needs and challenges.
16
The original philosophy of WWCC originated in the 1960s with an initiative of the Mennonite Church to offer supportive services for the community. The Mennonite Church, which is located inside WWCC, has had an important role in both providing funding for community programs and advocating for social justice in community life. During the early 1970s when the WWCC was built, there was a large Mennonite congregation. Reverend John Hess, who contributed to most of the key decisions regarding the work of the center, had a vision that WWCC would not just be a Centre of worship, but it would also be a Centre that serves the community. Hence, a number of programs were set up including Elderly Persons Centre, Home Support Services, and Teen-Drop-In services. The decade following the opening of Warden Woods Church and Community Centre was a period of rapid growth and expansion. During this time, the budget grew from less than $50,000 in 1970 to $230,000 in 1980. As well, the number of paid staff also grew from nine to twenty (Hincks, 1995; p.105). One of most significant developments during this time was the extension of full range of programs and services to another new public housing development nearby, called Teesdale (located one kilometer southwest of Warden Woods). Over the years, as the demographics of the neighbourhood changed, so has the number of neighbourhood service programs geared to meet the communitys needs. By 1985, the community composition was very different from that of 1965. No longer were the majority of residents Maritimers of Anglo-Saxon descent; instead, a significant influx of immigrants and refugees migrated from countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka. As Craig Hincks notes, by 1985, around 50% of residents were West Indian immigrants of African descent and around 10% were Greek immigrants. Hence, more community programs, such as Newcomer Services (ESL in 1989) and Cultural Awareness Events (Black History Month) were added in order to meet the new needs of the community. Other factors had also brought change to this community: the economy was less healthy, unemployment was higher, social programs were being squeezed, and government funding had more strings attached. Structural changes in the economy resulted in closing of several area manufacturing plants, most notably the GM plant above Warden Station. In terms of funding, before 1985, majority of financial support for WWCC came from the Mennonite Church. However, when the Centre became a member agency of the United Way in 1985, there were fewer incentives to maintain formal links with the Mennonite Church due to United Way funding restrictions to faith organizations. Since then, the Centre has been receiving funding from all three levels of Canadian government (Government of Canada, Province of Ontario and City of Toronto) and non-government sources, as well as private donations from corporations and individuals. This income
17
makes it possible for staff and volunteers to provide a wide range of services and programs to people of all ages and of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In 1991, WWCC Board of Directors adopted the Caver model of governance. Adopting this model allowed the Board to accept advice from residents and staff and work with them to define a community vision. A core value of WWCC today is being with the local people, rather than doing for them. In practical terms, this has meant seeking local input, hiring local residents, promoting local leadership, and implementing local decisions. As the Neighbourhood Director, Christine Caballero comments, we work together with the community in order to build interdependent (and not just dependent) relationships based on mutual respect and a holistic appreciation for each persons social, psychological, educational, cultural, physical and spiritual development. With a growing number of residents and services, the Centre has kept pace with the changing needs and profile of the community. In 1995, WWCC celebrated its 25th anniversary, and since then, has expanded both the breadth of programs and locations where it provides services. In 1996, services for seniors were moved to The Bell Estate at 679 Warden Avenue. In 2001, they opened a Supportive Housing program in a local high-rise building in order to provide supervision and support on a 24-hour, 7 days a week basis to qualifying tenants. A broad range of festive events arranged throughout the year has successfully brought the diverse community together. At the present, there is still a very large Caribbean population (which have been here the longest); in addition, large groups of Muslim and Somali populations are growing in this community. Hence, the community development worker ensures that such festive events are representative of the community. For instance, during the holiday month of December 2001, more than ten celebrations were organized including, Eid (Muslim), Kwanzaa (African), and Christmas. As the Christine Caballero explained, we celebrate all of different cultural events, we dont just do one, and Im responsible for tapping into the community to see what their needs are. From the interview with Christine Caballero, the Director of Neighbourhood Services at WWCC, the biggest growth of WWCC has been during the last five years. They have gone from about $500,000-$700,000 annual budget to over $2.1- 2.2 million dollar budget in this period. Reasons for such expansion includes additions of new staffs and programs such as Early Childhood Services, Supportive Housing, Youth-related programs, as well as Health-related programs (i.e. HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs). The 2001-2002 WWCC Annual Report indicates that one of the reasons for such success is largely due to a dedicated team of volunteers in the community. WWCC has a large number of volunteer turnout each year because their programs are devolved with the goals of meeting the needs and interests of volunteers as well as recipients of the services. Between 2001-2002 there were 419 volunteers donating over 36,077 hours. The service section of this report is a more comprehensive review of the services provided at the Warden Woods Community Centre. The wide range of program demonstrate WWCCs long-term partnerships with the residents to deliver programs that meet the cultural, social, educational and physical, needs of the various ethnic communities.
18
Measures and Methods
The previous section outlines the unique histories, challenges, and strengths of the study communities. Besides learning about the history of our communities, we collected and analyzed existing public data to characterize the health and well being of these communities. Our measures target the rates or prevalence of important health-related risk predictors, such as stress accumulation, to evaluate the "matrix of disadvantage" argument. The promise of recent interest in social aggregations such as neighbourhoods has in part been encouraged by the availability of data to portray aggregate geo-coded units through the Census. The Census tract approximates neighbourhoods. However, the substantive importance of social contexts is not completely specified by Census data. Census data do not include important information about social context, such as collective social processes or physical disorder. Other data must be collected to test hypotheses about the effects of social integration, social capital, organizational resources, political mobilization, shared norms and values, and the "psychological climate" of a social area or place, including issues of collective efficacy, trust, and support, or even the existence of a collective consciousness about social similarity. To address the full importance of neighbourhoods, we must go beyond Census data and gather specific data at the neighbourhood level. Census data taps an important range of issues, from socioeconomic disadvantage, to ethnic composition, to family composition, to work and labor force opportunity structures, to stability and change. To describe the organizational and broader resource state of a neighbourhood, as well the expectations of its constituents, we also need primary data collection strategies. We characterize the three study neighbourhoods along three major domains: the physical environment; the service environment; and the social environment. We utilize a multimethod approach to characterizing neighbourhoods. We combine systematic social observation (e.g., of street blocks), quasi-experimental methods (e.g., letter drop methodology), as well as indicators derived from secondary sources (e.g., the Census, and Environmental Contaminants databases). Table 1 summarizes the neighbourhood variables: Table 1. Summary of Neighbourhood Variables Domain Indicator Social Proportion of dropped Letters environment that get mailed Discussion of community trust and stressors with community residents Street block assessment of positive/negative social environmental features; Resident reports Crime Rates and Planning Reports Physical Accounts of neighbourhood environment physical design 19 Method of Assessment Quasi-experimental Focus groups and expert interviews Systematic Social Observation, focus group, expert interviews, and archival records
Systematic Social Observation, expert interviews, and archival records
Service environment
Street block assessment of Systematic social observation by positive and negative physical walking through neighbourhoods environmental features Presence, location, and Various sources: existing service proximity of grocery stores, directories, city reports, needs shopping, transit, schools, assessments, focus groups, and expert community centres, and clinics interviews Police presence and Expert Interviews; city records and enforcement style reports
Primary Data Collection Efforts The best way to learn about a community is to talk with residents and community experts who know about its history. Our direct discussions with the community were in the form of formal focus groups and informal local expert interviews. In total, the project group conducted one focus group in each of the study neighbourhoods. The focus groups covered issues of personal and community stressors, community collective trust, and services. Scripts and transcripts from the focus groups are in Appendix A. The project team also benefited from extensive discussion with local area experts, often community centre directors, long time residents, and community activists. The local experts were helpful in identifying particular issues in the communities, describing existing resources, and recruiting focus group participants. Despite the importance of direct interaction with actual residents, social scientists are increasingly characterizing physical and social environments through ecometric approaches. Systematic social observation of neighbourhoods is one such approach. We collected systematic information about the neighbourhoods in two ways. First, fortythree undergraduate sociology students at the University of Toronto were instructed to observe and code block faces of each of the neighbourhoods in January 2003. The effort, known as systematic social observation, seeks to characterize positive features of social organization as well as negative features of social disorder by assessing the extent of markers like pedestrian traffic, abandoned buildings, snow cleared sidewalks, garbage and litter, and loitering. Appendix C contains the complete list of variables. A second pseudo-experimental approach, aptly titled the Mail Drop Experiment, seeks to crudely identify the level of collective efficacy and trust within our study neighbourhoods by seeing what proportion of dropped letters are picked up and subsequently mailed. This measure purportedly taps into the willingness of residents to help each other out by looking after dropped letters. Each of these data collection strategies will be discussed more in depth when we discuss the results. Secondary Data Sources Several existing (secondary) data sources complement the primary data collection efforts. First, we examine tract-level Canadian Census Data obtained through the University of Torontos Data Library. Other existing data are available for characterizing the health and behavioural characteristics of our communities. Unfortunately, due to time and resource constraints, the project group was unable to analyze the Canadian
20
Population Health Survey (CPHS), National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), and the Canadian Community Health Study (CCHS).16 To prevent identifying particular residents, an extensive ethical review process is required for linking geographic indicator information to health information. Furthermore, the City of Toronto was not readily willing to release neighbourhood-level health summary information about our study communities. Future efforts to examine sensitive data will start well in advance to accommodate these time consuming processes. Nevertheless, we did successfully get some health data for St James Town, which is provided in the following endnote. 17 Other sources of neighbourhood-level data not derived from the Census include information from various governmental agencies, university researchers, and the private/commercial sector. From the government agencies, the project team collected needs assessments and various service related information from various government sources: Housing, the Environment, Provincial and Federal sources, Medical services, Police, community policing, and crime statistics. From publicly available information, students tabulated information about the scholars at local universities doing urban health research (University of Toronto, York University, and Ryerson University). Finally, the corporation MapInfo gave the project team access to their PSYTE marketing database profiles of our communities. Collectively, these multiple sources of information about our study communities clarify the unique needs and resources of the residents and their local physical, social, and service environments. We now turn to compare and contrast our study neighbourhoods to each other and the Greater Toronto Area.
21
Results and Discussion
Determinants of Healthy Communities This section compares and contrasts the study neighbourhoods to each other and the Greater Toronto Area using the 1996 Census data. According to Repetti, Taylor, and Seeman (2002, p. 359), the adverse effects of low SES [socioeconomic status] on mental and physical health outcomes are as close to a universal truth as social science has offered. Socioeconomic status (SES) is defined as ones general status within an economic hierarchy, based on income, education, and occupation. Hence, from an urban health perspective, it is important to examine the SES characteristics of our study neighbourhoods and compare it with both the Toronto CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) and each other. Our indicators of healthy communities in this data are consequences of a complex web of factors, ranging from individual/household characteristics to environmental determinants. In addition, some variables commonly thought of as determinants may also be outcomes. Hence, it is difficult to clarify cause and effect. Below, we review characteristics of socioeconomic status, followed by families and households in our communities, ethnicity, and transportation. Household Income: Family and household income have been linked to many health outcomes, including infant mortality, low birth weight, diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, mental disorders, and all-cause mortality (Benzeval, Judge, & Shouls, 2001; Kaplan, 1999; Lynch & Percent of Families with Income under $29,999 Kaplan, 2000; McDonough 70.00% et al., 2002; Raphael, 1999; 60.00% Wilkins, Berthelot, & Ng, 2002; Wood et al., 1999). 50.00% The relationship is 40.00% curvilinear: as income 30.00% increases, mortality risk 20.00% decreases, though at a 10.00% declining rate (Gravelle, 0.00% 1998).18 With this in mind, SJT S1 YW it is significant that the WW CMA Community average and median family incomes of our study neighbourhoods are less than half those of the Toronto CMA (see Figure 1). Whereas the average family income of our neighbourhoods ranges from $26,752 to $31,268, the average family income of the Toronto CMA is nearly $64,000. Similar discrepancies are found between the household and employment incomes of our study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA. In addition, the average incidence of low income ($29,999) in our study neighbourhoods is over 50%. In the city as a whole, it is just 18.4% (see Figure 2).19
22
The same disparity occurs when you look at lone-parent family incomes. The average male lone parent family income for the CMA falls at $46,601, and Warden Woods trails that at $41,288. Yorkwoods however, is considerably lower at $27,092 and St James Town is the lowest at $19,288. It is hard to explain why there is such a difference between the two communities without Incidence of Low Income In Our Study understanding what kinds of Neighbourhoods, Compared to Toronto jobs males in each CMA community hold, which 70.0 follows in the employment Incidence of low income 60.0 - economic families section. Perhaps single 50.0 fathers in Warden Woods Incidence of low income 40.0 - unattached individuals hold higher paying jobs 30.0 Incidence of low income than those in other 20.0 - population in private neighbourhoods. However, households 10.0 sufficient data do not exist 0.0 SJT YW WW CMA to test this hypothesis. St. Place of Residence James Town also seems to have slightly lower average and median incomes and more concentrated poverty than Yorkwoods and Warden Woods. Nevertheless, the similarities in income between our study neighbourhoods are greater than the differences.
Percentage
23
Family Income Distribution: Between neighbourhoods, income inequality (i.e., the size of the gap between the rich and the poor) is directly associated with poor health (Jencks & Mayer, 1990; Lynch et al., 1998). However, this relationship does not seem to exist within Family Income neighbourhoods. If anything, Study Neighbourhoods, Distribution In Our economic diversity may have to Compared Toronto benefits. Brooks-Gunn et al. (1993) CMA 30 showed that the presence of wealthy 25 neighbours correlates with increased Pe rce 20 SJT child IQ, fewer teenage pregnancies nta YW ge 15 and lower school dropout rates, after WW 10 controlling for family income. At CMA 5 the neighbourhood level, 0 concentrated poverty seems to harm Under 20406080100 health more than income inequality 10 29 49 69 89 and over (Robert, 1999). In light Family Income Range ($000) Percentage of Income from of these findings, it is worrisome that the Government Transfer Payments In income distribution of Our Study Neighbourhoods, our study neighbourhoods Compared to Toronto CMA shows a pattern of concentrated poverty (see 30.0 Figure 4). In St. James 25.0 Government transfer 20.0 Town, Yorkwoods and payments as a 15.0 Warden Woods, more percentage of total 10.0 income than 50% of families 5.0 make under $30,000, 0.0 while virtually none SJT YW WW CMA makes over $100,000. In Place of Residence contrast, the Toronto CMA shows a more even income distribution, with a sharp increase in the percentage of families making over $100,000 (15.3%). Another indicator of poverty is the welfare rate. Government transfer payments account for more than twice as much of the total income in our study neighbourhoods as in the Toronto CMA. Overall, the census data suggest that our study neighbourhoods are economically disadvantaged compared to the city as a whole. All have higher poverty and welfare rates, lower average incomes, and more concentrated poverty than the Toronto CMA. The result may be poorer health.
Percentage
24
Educational Attainment: In contrast to other measures of socioeconomic status, the education level of our study neighbourhoods demonstrates more variability. Like income, education is strongly Highest Level of Schooling In Our Study associated with physical and Neighbourhoods, Compared to Toronto CMA mental health (Feinstein, 2002; Kaplan, 1999; Ross & Wu, 1995; 60 Ross & Mirowsky, 1999; Taylor Less than grade 9 50 et al., 1993). Some argue that it gives people a sense of agency 40 Grades 9 to 13 (which is good for mental health) and leads to more healthy 30 behaviours (e.g., more educated University with 20 bachelor's people are less likely to smoke) degree or higher (Mirowsky & Ross, 1998). Of 10 our three neighbourhoods, St. 0 James Town has the highest level SJT YW WW CMA of schooling (e.g., higher % with Place of Residence bachelor's degree or more, lowest % with no high school degree). In fact, educational outcomes in St. James Town are almost identical to those in the Toronto CMA (see Figure 5). Yorkwoods residents have the lowest level of schooling, while Warden Woods residents fall in the middle. Employment rates: Employment is a third indicator of SES. Warden Woods has the lowest incidence of employment by both males and females of those who are fifteen years or older. Just 37% of females 15 years or older are employed, compared to 55% in the CMA. This could be explained perhaps by higher incidences of lone parent families or recipients of social assistance in this area. Connections could be made here with education levels, and areas of employment. On the same token, 58% of males 15 years or older are employed, as compared to 67% in the CMA. These figures may help to explain why the income averages are lower but it could also be attributed to perhaps a higher number of senior citizens. At a glance (looking at the census data) this does not seem to be the case, so we are forced to further seek out for alternate explanations, beyond the limited scope of the Census data.
Percentage
25
Percent of Employed 15 years and older by Gender
80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% SJT YW WW Community CMA Males Females
Unemployment: At an individual level, unemployment correlates with depression (Xu et al., 2003), heart disease (Brenner, 1987), and many other health outcomes. At a neighbourhood level, high proportions of unemployed adults have been linked to childrens internalizing and externalizing disorders, educational risk, and unsafe sex (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Overall, the adult unemployment rate is higher in our study neighbourhoods than in the Toronto CMA. The neighbourhoods also differ from each other. Unemployment is highest in Warden Woods (18.1%), second highest in Yorkwoods (15.0%), and lowest St. James Town (12.4%). This pattern is particularly salient when examining the female unemployment rate, but disappears when examining the male unemployment rate (see Figure 6). Similar patterns are found when considering the unemployment rates of females versus males with children at home (see Figure 7). It is unclear why these neighbourhood differences exist.
Male and Female Unemployment Rates In Our Study Neighbourhoods, Compared to Toronto CMA
25.0
20.0
SJT YW
Percentage
15.0
WW CMA
10.0
5.0
0.0 Unemployment rate 25 yrs+ Unemployment rate males 25 yrs+ Unemployment rate females 25 yrs+
26
Youth and Unemployment: According to some Yorkwoods residents, one recurrent problem in their neighbourhood is youths hanging around with nothing to do (YSNP survey, March 2002). Such youth are likely to feel alienated and to despair when the education system appears to be a joke (Yorkwoods focus group) and job opportunities are scarce. Many turn to delinquent activities, such as gangs and drugs, which carry significant health risks (Deutschmann, 1998). Census data confirms that Yorkwoods has a higher proportion of unemployed youth and youth not attending school than the other two study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA (see Figure 8). Warden Woods fares slightly better than St. James Town on this measure. Overall, youth appear to be best off in Warden Woods, where educational and employment outcomes are similar to the Toronto CMA. St. James Town has slightly more unemployed youth and youth not attending school than Warden Woods, but far less than Yorkwoods. Finally, although the youth unemployment rate in Warden Woods is nearly identical to that in the Toronto CMA (and lower than our other study neighbourhoods), the adult unemployment rate in Warden Woods is more than double that in the Toronto CMA (and higher than our other study neighbourhoods). Perhaps these findings reflect the kinds of jobs available to different age groups in different neighbourhoods.
Percentage of Youth Not Attending School or Work In Our Study Neighbourhoods, Compared to Toronto CMA
80
Percentage
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 SJT YW WW CMA Unemployment rate, age 15-24 years Percentage not attending school, age 15-24 years
Place of Residence
Unemployment Rates In Our Study Neighbourhoods, Compared to Toronto CMA
35.0 30.0 25.0
SJT YW
Percentage
20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0
Adult unemployment rate 15 yrs+ Unemployment rate Unemployment rate males 15 yrs+ with females 15 yrs + with children at home children at home
WW CMA
27
Occupational and Industrial Classification: A final indicator of SES is occupational status. The next four figures display the occupational mix in our study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA. The three most common occupations in St. James Town, Warden Woods, and the Toronto CMA are sales and services; business, finance and administration; and trades, transport and equipment. Yorkwoods shows a different pattern. Here, the most common occupation is manufacturing, followed by sales and services, and business, finance and administration. Upon closer inspection, Yorkwoods residents are more likely to hold low-paying manufacturing jobs (e.g., machine operators, assemblers), but not significantly more likely to hold high-paying manufacturing jobs (e.g., supervisor) than residents of other neighbourhoods. The relatively high proportion of manufacturing jobs in Yorkwoods may be accounted for by the industrial strip along Highway 400 (MTPF, 1987).
28
Occupational Mix, Toronto CMA
Management Business, f inance & admin. Natural & applied sciences Health Social sciences, educ., govern. & religion Art, culture, sport & rec Sales & services Trades, transport & equip. Primary industry Process, manuf. & utilities
1
Occupational Mix, St. James Town
Management Business, finance & admin Natural & applied sciences Health Social sciences, educ., govern. & religion Art, culture, sport & rec. Sales & services Trades, transport & equip. Primary industry Process, manuf. & utilities
Occupational Mix, Yorkwoods
Management Business, finance & admin. Natural & applied sciences Health Social sciences, educ., govern. & religion Art, culture, sport & rec. Sales & services Trades, transport & equip. Primary industry Process, manuf. & utilities
Occupational Mix, Warden Woods
Management Business, f inance & admin Natural & applied sciences Health Social sciences, educ., govern. & religion Art, culture, sport & rec Sales & services Trades, transport & equip. Primary industry Process, manuf . & utilities
2
Compared to the other study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA, St. James Town has a larger proportion of workers in sales and services and health care. The latter finding may be due to the close proximity of both the Wellesley Central Hospital and St. Michaels Hospital. In light of the Ontario Health Services Restructuring Commissions decision to close the Wellesley Central in 1998, the percentage of health care workers in St. James Town may have decreased (and the unemployment rate increased) since the census data were collected in 1996. Meanwhile, Warden Woods has a relatively high percentage of workers in business, finance and administrative occupations (even higher than the Toronto CMA). This neighbourhood also has a higher proportion of sales and services workers than Yorkwoods and the Toronto CMA, but a smaller proportion than St. James Town. Residents of the Toronto CMA are more likely than those of our study neighbourhoods to hold managerial and professional occupations, and to be selfemployed. These findings are significant because such occupations often bring a sense of autonomy and control, which are related to good health (e.g., Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). In addition, managerial and professional occupations are negatively associated with health related outcomes, including young childrens behavior problems, teenage pregnancy, and high school dropout (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Unpaid Labour: Finally, in terms of unpaid labour, the differences between our study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA may not be statistically significant. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Yorkwoods residents are most likely to report spending 60 hours or more per week on housework, while Warden Woods residents are most likely to report spending this amount of time on childcare. When it comes to caring for seniors, St. James Town residents are less likely than those of other neighbourhoods to report spending 10 hours or more per week on such activities. These findings may reflect the different age distributions in our study neighbourhoods.
A Place to Call Home: Neighbourhood Turnover and Retention: Residential mobility also has been linked to community Residential Mobility In Our Study Neighbourhoods, health and well being. According Compared to Toronto CMA to social disorganization theory, 0.70 transitional areas (i.e., urban 0.60 places where unskilled workers, students, and/or immigrants 0.50 Proportion of residents constantly move in and out) are moving in past year 0.40 marked by various social 0.30 Proportion of residents problems, including infant moving in past 5 years 0.20 mortality, venereal disease, 0.10 school truancy, mental disorder,
Proportion
0.00 SJT YW WW CMA
Place of Residence
3
suicide and crime (Deutschmann, 1998). Drug traffickers, thieves, and other criminals may take advantage of such areas because they lack a firm sense of social order. Not surprisingly, in all four locations, residential mobility is far greater over the past five years than over the past year. It is highest overall in St. James Town (62%), and lowest in Yorkwoods (47%) and the Toronto CMA (46%). The degree of movement in Warden Woods is also quite high (58%). Interviewees in St. James Town confirmed the high degree of mobility, noting that new immigrants often settle there first, find good jobs, and then move to other parts of the city (Gorman & Ebach, 2003). Although this pattern may be adaptive for individuals, it may leave the neighbourhood with a sense of disorder and residents with poorer health. In such places, health and social services must constantly adapt to changing needs and demographics. Housing: One of the major differences between the three communities of our study and the CMA is the difference between owned dwellings and rented dwellings. In St. James town, 99.79% of all dwellings are rented. This however can be attributed to its central location in downtown Toronto and the fact that a majority of dwellings in this community are large apartment complex style which doesnt offer many ownership opportunities. However, in York Woods, 84.39% of dwellings are rented, and in Warden Woods 81.74% of dwellings are rented. These parentages are far from the CMAs average of 59% owned dwellings and 41% rented dwellings. These differences are quite remarkable and clearly represent the financial limitations that handcuff the residents of these communities.
Distribution of Rented Dwelings
100.00% 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% Percent 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%
99.76%
84.39%
81.74%
SJT
YW
WW
CMA
Communities
4
40.93%
Distribution of Owned Dewllings
60.00% 50.00% 40.00% Percent 30.00% 0.21% 15.61% 18.26% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% 59.07% SJT YW WW CMA Communities
41.26% 42.26% 40.73% SJT YW WW CMA Communities
Another major difference between the three communities and the CMA is the percentage of residents that have to spend more than 30%of the household income on rent. The CMA average is 17.89%. Comparably, 42% of St. James town residents, 41% of York Woods residents, and 40% of Warden Woods residents pay more than 30% of the household income on monthly rent. Paying more than 30% of household income on rent puts an incredible burden on the financial priorities of a family. The difference between the CMA and the three communities represents one of many serious problems within the housing programs of Toronto, and highlights the great need of increased support for subsidized housing. The period of construction seems to be consistent within the three communities with 85-95% of all dwellings built between 1946-1980. Greater Toronto (represented by the CMA) has newer housing stock, with 28% of all new dwellings built after 1980. The fact that there has been little to no growth in the number of potential dwellings may indicate a severely stagnant local economy related to poverty and crime issues.
Gross rent spending 30% or more of household income on shelter costs.
45.00% 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% Percent 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00%
5
17.89%
Individual/Household Characteristics Family Structure According to Statistics Canada, family is defined as a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common law or adoption. With this definition in mind, it is important to examine various family structures of our neighbourhoods because family members are not only sources of economic assistance, but also providers of emotional support. Keeping in line with the Network theory approach, family members offer instrumental and expressive needs to other members. These invaluable support mechanisms assist in coping with challenging, undesirable health circumstances and events. Family support helps address these concerns by providing families with information, programs, and services that promote positive health outcomes (Fitzpatrick and LaGory, 2000). Two-parent families: In terms of family structure on the whole, the Husband-Wife family is the predominant setting, and the average for husband wife families in the CMA (as a percent of total families) is 85%. Yorkwoods shows the lowest prevalence of husbandwife families with 61% overall. Cultural Divorced Population, 15 Years and Older differences could perhaps be a reason 10.00% behind this low incidence, because the 9.00% 8.00% divorce rate is not any higher in 7.00% 6.00% Yorkwoods than it is in the other 5.00% communities and GTA as a whole, yet 4.00% 3.00% there doesnt seem to be any cultures that 2.00% 1.00% stand out in their lack of likelihood to get 0.00% married, so this remains an anomaly, and SJT S1 YW WW could be one of the reasons to investigate CMA Community behind the prevalence of low-income in the area.
Husband-wife Families as percent of Total Families
90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% SJT YW
Community
WW
CMA
6
Single parent families: Yorkwoods has the highest occurrence of female lone parent families with 35%, as compared to the CMA with 13% of all families being female lone parent. Each of the communities has more female lone parents on average than the CMA, but Yorkwoods stands out the most. However, these results are not necessary a product of divorce, because the Lone Parent Families by Gender of Parent divorce rate is reasonably low across 40.00% the board, with no 35.00% startling differences and 30.00% 25.00% only a slightly lower Male lone parent 20.00% divorce rate in the Female lone parent 15.00% CMA. It would be 10.00% useful to know the age 5.00% range of single mothers 0.00% in each community and SJT YW WW CMA overall, but that Community information was not available. It is logical to assume that young mothers are less likely to be married, and if teen pregnancy were an issue in any of these communities, it would explain the difference.
Percent
Divorced Population, 15 Years and Older
Household members: Notably, St. James Town has the highest incidence of nonfamily persons living in private households compared to the Toronto CMA (33% and 15%, respectively). One explanation for such results may be due to a large student population in the St. James Town area. Its affordable rent prices and close proximity SJT S1 YW WW to several downtown post-secondary CMA Community institutions such as Ryerson University, George Brown College, and the University of Toronto, many students choose to reside in this area. However, the exact percentage of students in the general population of St. James Town is inconclusive, due to insufficient data in this area.
10.00% 9.00% 8.00% 7.00% 6.00% 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00%
Neighbours of all stripes: Ethnic Diversity: Communities with greater socioeconomic diversity are higher capacity communities. Within the context of a free market society allowing the free movement of people, the existence of diverse communities means that those with the ability to live elsewhere choose to stay (or, alternatively, to erect other
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barriers). Likewise, racial and ethnic diversity gives communities a broader cultural capacity and fosters cultural sensitivity, a form of intelligence necessary in increasingly diverse societies. The community benefits of diverse communities have been known for some time. Renowned urban thinker, Jane Jacobs (1961),20 has noted that successful cities are multi-dimensional and diverse in that they do not just cater to a single industry or a single demographic group. Race and Ethnicity: In general, the three communities in question have large concentrations of minority groups compared to the CMA. St. James Towns Filipino community represented 20% of the population and the Tamil, Sri Lankan, East Indian and Chinese communities represented another 30% of the communitys population for a total of 50%. Comparably, these groups only represent a combined 16% of the CMA population. In York Woods, the major ethnic groups were Chinese, East Indian, Vietnamese and Ghanaian. These four ethnic groups represent 50% of the communitys population, compared to the CMA, and these four groups represent only 15% of the total population. Warden Woods on the other hand has a larger percent of Canadians according to the census at 17.7% representation and considerable representation from the Scottish and Irish communities at 6% and 9% respectively. These percentages are comparable to the CMA average of Irish-11% and Scottish 13%. Several minority groups represent the rest of the communitys population. The Chinese, East Indian, Filipino, Afghan, Jamaican, Sri Lankan, and Ethiopian communities represent a combined total of 40% of the communitys population. Comparably, in the CMA, these groups only represent about 21% of the population. Clearly within these three communities there is a high concentration of minority groups compared to the distribution of the CMA.
Population by Ethnicity (CMA)
Filipino 2% Polish 3% East Indian 5% Irish 11% English 20% Scottish 12% Italian 9% Chinese 7% Jamaican 3% Other 7%
Canadian 16% French 5%
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Population by Ethnicity (SJT)
Other 16% Ethiopian 4% Tamil 8% Sri Lankan 9% Korean 3% Canadian 6% French 4% English 9% Chinese 7% Scottish 4% Irish 5% East Indian 6%
Filipino 19%
Population by Ethnicity (YW)
Other 16% Ghanaian 7% Guyanese 5% Spanish 5% Vietnamese 15% Canadian 4% English 6% Chinese 16%
East Indian 15% Jamaican 11%
Population by Ethnicity (WW)
Canadian 12% French 5%
Other 14% Ethiopian 9% Sri Lankan 4% Jamaican 8% Filipino 4% East Indian 8% Irish 9%
English 14% Chinese 7% Scottish 6%
Transportation: In St. James Town 27% of men drive their car to work, 58% of men take public transit. Women in St. James town drive to work 7% of the time and take public transit 74% of the time. Based on the assumption of financial limitations, most families would only have one car at home. Since men on average make more money at work it would be understandable that more men drive to work compared to women. Women obviously have to rely on public transportation and walking. In York Woods, both men (67%) and women (25%) use cars as modes of transportation. This may be explained by the location of this community. Unlike the other two communities, York Woods is not directly located on or even near the main subway lines, with 25% of men and 50% of women relying on public transit, buses are heavily relied upon. This factor may require some families to have 2 cars so that both parents can work. York Woods also has the highest reported rate of people car pooling or getting rides to work by other people with a total of 23 % between men and women, compared to 9% for St. James town, 7% in Warden Woods, and an average of 13% in the 9
CMA. This could as well reflect upon the location of the community and the inability of some people to get to work in a timely manner. In Warden Woods, 57% of men and 29% of women rely on their cars to get them to work, and 39% of men and 61% of women rely on public transit. Similarly to York Woods, Warden Woods isnt as conveniently located to the main subway lines as St. James town which may explain the increased reliance on automobiles but it is close enough to attract more users with 40% of men and 61% of women using public transportation to get to work. In comparison to the CMA, 74% of men and 56% of women use cars to get themselves to work which suggests that on average, more people in the CMA are able to afford a second car. This luxury reduces the dependence on public transit. Only 16% of men and 27% of women on average in the CMA use public transit to get to work. In sum, our study neighbourhoods have lower SES than the general Toronto CMA. St. James Town has slightly lower family income than the other two neighbourhoods, but all three communities are disadvantaged relative to the Toronto CMA. Yorkwoods has the lowest educational and youth employment levels, while Warden Woods has the highest adult unemployment rate. Residents of all three neighbourhoods are less likely to be employed than those in the Toronto CMA, and even when they are employed, they are more likely to hold low-paying or less prestigious jobs.
On the whole, Census data is a reliable source in examining the dynamics of the study neighbourhoods demographics, and its social and economic characteristics. Information such as family size, immigrant population size, and employment rates can be very useful for the community builders when planning various types of social programs, such as ESL and day care services. Census data offers a broad overview of each community to identify its needs, strengths and resources. However, the weakness in the Census data stems from its basis in a specific perspective. The data offers only part of the picture, which ostensibly is a government one. This ignores other aspects of the situation that a researcher may be interested in. For instance, knowing the incidence of loneparenthood is useful only if we could examine it further and find out the average age, whether these lone parents themselves were once married, whether they were teenage mothers (or fathers), and finally whether or not they receive social assistance. The Census data is inadequate in observing the diversity of a specific group. Hence, with an understanding of the Census data, we will now review other characteristics of the environments in our neighbourhoods, particularly how social aspects of an environment, such as social capital are pertinent to health of communities.
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Characteristics of Social and Physical Environments
Assessing Social Capital with a Letter Drop Experiment The concept of social capital has been advanced to describe the quality of community-level social interactions, and includes such indicators as the degree of sociability and solidarity among residents, the extent of reciprocal exchanges, as well as levels of trust and expectations of collective action. Social capital has been recently applied to the health field to explain area variations in mortality and morbidity. In ecological and multilevel analyses, state-level indicators of social capital -- such as levels of interpersonal trust, perceptions of reciprocity, and density of civic associations have been shown to be strongly correlated with population mortality rates. Recent evidence from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighbourhoods suggests that indicators of social capital (membership of civic groups, trust, and reciprocity) at the neighbourhood level are similarly associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates as well as traumatic causes of death. Letter-drop methodology: The conventional approach to measuring neighbourhood social capital relies on the assessment of structural characteristics (such as the number of civic associations, and the extent of organizational membership), as well as cognitive characteristics (such as survey data relating to questions about trust) [82]. As researchers have pointed out, structural characteristics are often only tangentially related to the key parameters of interest, while survey questions often rely on the honesty and understanding of subjects. To overcome some of these limitations, some researchers have advocated the use of quasi-experimental approaches to elicit measures on psychosocial environment, such as trust. A classic example is the so-called envelope drop game, in which individuals are asked for their willingness to pay for an envelope with their name on it to be dropped in different parts of a city, under different conditions (e.g., sealed, dropped at night, during the day, unsealed and unstamped, etc). The level of willingness to pay for this envelope is thought to capture the degree to which individuals place trust in a random person in one of these locations. An extension of this quasi-experimental approach has been recently implemented in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighbourhoods, a multi-level cohort study of the influence of neighbourhood contexts (including social capital) on health and developmental outcomes. This method consists of actually dropping stamped, addressed envelopes on randomly selected street corners, and to assess the proportion of letters that are subsequently picked up and mailed. Pilot data from the Chicago study reveal that there are substantial variations in the proportion of letters returned, and that these variations track neighbourhood differences in social capital as assessed by the community surveys on trust and social cohesion. We replicated these methods within the three study neighbourhoods and also for Toronto as a whole. Forty-two student investigators were assigned a particular
11
neighbourhood and were instructed to drop (i.e., on the sidewalk) two prepared sealed envelopes containing letters about the study. Students were instructed to drop them in a way that looks inadvertent (accidental), not waiting until no one is around. If someone immediately informed them "you dropped something," they were instructed to pick up the letter, make note of this, and drop the letter again two minutes later. The envelopes were marked AND students recorded the date and time they were dropped. Each envelope contained a brief letter. To standardize the experiment, all the letters were prepared in the same way.
Percentage of Letters Returned
60% 50% 40% Percent 30% 20% 10% 0% Yield (%)
GTA 55%
York Woods (J&F) 28%
St. James Town 42%
Warden Woods 32%
Geographical Location
The data collected from the research showed that each geographical area had varying amounts of letters returned. Previous Letter Drop Experiments state that the variation of letters returned depended upon the social capital in that certain area. In order to compare the results from York Woods, St. James Town and Warden Woods, another "geographical area" was selected. This alternate area consisted of 12 different residential locations in the Greater Toronto Area, which was labelled "GTA." This group represents an average of Toronto and was used for comparison to the study neighbourhoods. "GTA" is not one distinct location but an array of locations from all around the Greater Toronto Area reflecting the neighbourhoods of student investigators. Of the letters that were dropped in the GTA, York Wood, St. James Town and Warden Woods, the percentage of the letters returned were 55%, 28%, 42% and 32% respectively. The GTA had the highest percentage yield, St. James Town is the second highest, Warden Woods third, and York Woods has the lowest percentage of letters returned. Although York Woods has the lowest percentage yield, it was not that far behind Warden Woods (4% difference).
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The time of day and day or week data were considered with reviewing the Letter-Drop data (Before noon, 12:00 p.m. -2:59 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and after). The data was charted into tables, which were able to display the differences in letters returned depending on the day and time that the letters were dropped. The day with the highest yield for the GTA was Friday. The day with the highest yields for York Woods was Friday. Monday was the day of the week with highest amount of letters returned for St. James Town and Warden Woods. The time with the most letters returned for GTA was both before noon and after 3:00 p.m. The time of day the had the most letters returned for York Woods, St. James Town and Warden Woods were noon - 2:59 p.m., noon - 2:59 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and after, respectively. From this observation, it is sufficient to state that there is a possibility that the level of social capital and social cohesion in the three communities are lower than the average community in Toronto. The results of this Letter-Drop Experiment were consistent with the results from the pilot data in the Chicago study. York Woods, St. James Town and Warden Woods are three communities in Toronto that are among the lowest levels of socioeconomic status (SES). The Chicago study showed that the amount of letters returned related to the amount of social cohesion and social capital in a community. Hence, it can also be argued that these communities have lower levels of social capital. The communities with higher levels of social capital tend to have higher number of letters returned. Conversely, the communities with lower numbers of letters returned tended to have lower levels of social capital. No research is without limitations and the letter-drop experiment is no exception. The number of letters returned in a specific neighbourhood may not reflect its level of social capital. Other factors may contribute to higher letter returns, such as higher population in the community. For instance, St. James Town is a more populated and busy neighbourhood since it is located near downtown Toronto. Therefore, in this area, the probability of the letters being picked up and mailed may also be higher compared to other settings. Other variables we must also consider include differences in the outdoor weather forecast. Because data collection for this particular research was conducted during the winter, snow coverage on the ground and wind conditions may also have had an influence on the results. Keeping these limitations in mind, we will now begin our discussion of another method in understanding how aspects of physical environments are relevant to the health of communities. As mentioned earlier in the theory section, problems of litter, graffiti, and lack of green space can collectively promote a climate unfavorable to healthy communities by opening the neighborhood to further victimization and social disorganization (Perkins, Brown, and Talyor, 1996).
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Systematic Social Observation of Neighbourhood Social and Physical Environments Assessing Social (Dis)organization and (Dis)order by Describing a Streetscape An aspect of the neighbourhood social environment that is associated with health and health behaviours is the presence of social disorder. Social disorder is defined by signs indicating a lack of social control. Perceived neighbourhood disorder refers to visible cues indicating a lack of order and social control in the community. These cues are social and physical, where physical disorder is indicative of social disorder -- social and physical disorders are conceptualized as a continuum. There is an established tradition of examining aspects of the neighbourhood physical environment in relation to health outcomes, through measures such as noise, crowding, traffic patterns, and air pollution. Ecometrics, a term devised by Raudenbush, 1999, is defined as the science of assessment of human ecological settings such as neighbourhoods. Systematic social observation (SSO), one of the data collection methods used in ecometrics, provides measures of the neighbourhood environment that are independent of the perceptions of survey respondents and can capture aspects of the physical and social environment that are difficult to obtain from survey respondents. A key disadvantage of SSO is its inability to capture theoretical constructs that require resident perspectives (Raudenbush and Sampson, 1997). However, when used in conjunction with other data collection strategies, SSO can provide an independent and reinforcing source of data for neighbourhood social and physical environment.
The SSO results show that our three subject areas share a general pattern in the physical and social neighbourhood characteristics observed. The results are presented in two tables in Appendix D3. Overall, there were more positive factors observed than negative ones for both the physical and social measures. As well the physical measures were observed at a much higher frequency than the social measures. For Warden Woods, there were many positive physical features such as presence and quality of sidewalks at 91%. The leading negative physical factors were the presence of graffiti (73%) and garbage (64%). Some concerns about the physical environment were the icy sidewalks (64%) and observers mentioned some cracked sidewalks, a vandalized bus shelter, and housing that is deteriorating and in need of maintenance. Most of the ground space seemed to be concrete, and the houses looked similar and too close together to leave room for recreation. However they did note signs of care and efforts to make homes better, such as houses being generally clean and organized, an apartment building with a relatively new coat of paint, small hanging gardens in the yards, and neat and pruned foliage. The social environment was positive with high pedestrian traffic (82%), and lots of children playing (63%), supervised or unattended. Only 9% observed a neighbourhood watch sign. There wasnt much negative to see in the social environment. The largest negative indicator was 27% reporting not seeing a soul in sight. Nine percent
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noted possible drug activity. Transportation (TTC) was convenient and easily accessible in the neighbourhood. Overall observers felt safe and at ease in these surroundings. For Yorkwoods/Grandravine the physical environments positive features included the presence of sidewalks (100%) with quality at 70%. The presence of streetlights is a concern, as it was observed by only 40%. All the negative physical factors were observed at 50% or lower, with garbage (50%) and icy sidewalks (40%) the biggest concerns. Observers rated the houses and apartment buildings as being in poor condition with paint chipping and peeling off, and some rust stains. Housing was small, leaving little personal space, and lacking individuality. The social environment had good positive features with 80% observed pedestrian traffic, kids playing, and people exercising. As well, 60% observed neighbourhood watch signs. For the negative social factors 30% observed adults/youths loitering and 10% observed possible gang activity. Twenty percent saw no one in sight. Although housing looked bad on the exterior, people tried to make homes look better with curtains, blinds, and decorations. Video surveillance cameras and MTHA security had a visible presence. Some observers expected the area to be very bad because of the media attention the Jane & Finch area has had, but they got a more positive impression by walking around the neighbourhood and feeling safe, not out of place. They saw families and children playing in the community center without intimidation or seclusion. Hence, observers found it to be a comfortable environment. For St. James Town, which is located in the core of central Toronto, environments physical features included the presence of sidewalks (91%), sidewalks that were in good condition or quality (100%). As in the Jane and Finch area, the lack a sufficient amount of street lights is a concern (58%). In regards to negative physical features, St. James town had higher levels of reported negative features in almost every category compared to the other neighbourhoods. There was more traffic (66%), more litter on the streets (58%), unattended dogs (41%), empty alcohol bottles (66%), property vandalism (50%), vacant lots (51%), unkempt yards (50%) and abandoned cars (58%). As the observers noticed, the negative features could be attributed the density of the communitys population. As one observer noted, high rise apartment buildings, while completely surrounding me, were positioned so closely that I felt I was standing in the middle of a concrete jungle and I was struck by a sense of claustrophobia. Some observers also noticed that the apartment buildings were in poor shape and at least needed cosmetic repairs. Social environment features, both positive and negative, did not deviate significantly from the other communities. Neighbourhood watch signs were more prevalent in St. James town (50%) compared to Warden Woods, but was consistent with both Jane & Finch and the GTA. The biggest positive feature that was noticed by all observers was the presence and quality of wall murals painted on some buildings throughout the community that were trying to limit the amount of graffiti. This not only served its purpose but added to a pleasant atmosphere. As discussed earlier, conducting systematic social observation at the neighbourhood level has provided us with the opportunity to assess positive and negative environmental features. However, some features which are not readily visible to the naked eye, such as specific types of air and water pollutants may still have deleterious effects on the communitys overall health.
15
The next section of this report explores these invisible environmental contaminants in the study neighbourhoods.
16
Environment Contaminants In order to research the environmental health of our three communities, we used a Canadian Government website, the National Pollutant Release Inventory. Everyone is eligible to access the information on this website, and they provide a user-friendly database that allows one to plug in a postal code to find results within that area. From there, companies that have reported to the NPRI (a standard that must be met by any industry in Canada that releases toxins into the air, water, land or transfers these toxins for recycling or disposal) will show up, the substances that have been released, and how much. This database is very efficient but a drawback is that it does not indicate if these companies are breaking any laws, and does not provide links to understanding what is legally allowable for industries the government websites are obscure and more geared towards environmental scientists who would themselves be measuring emissions and less towards students or community members interested in particular communities. Despite these limitations, these data are useful in assessing the needs of each community. Of all our three communities, Warden Woods was the most heavily reported in the inventory (see Table 1 in Appendix D4). Eight companies within an average of 2.54km from the Warden Woods community centre showed up on the NPRI database. The vast majority of the chemicals that were displayed among these eight companies were reported because they had been transferred off the grounds either for recycling or disposal elsewhere. The exception to this was the Flexible Packaging Corporation, located on 1891 Eglinton Avenue East, just under 4 kilometers from the community centre. This company reported many on site releases. The chemicals released (Isopropyl Alcohol, Methanol, Toluene and Methyl Ethyl Ketone) ranged from 36 to 116 tones, and share the outcomes of being irritable to the eyes, nose and throat, and the possibility of mild kidney damage. Luckily, none of these chemicals are known to be carcinogenic. This is a problematic for two reasons: first, the residents of this community are most likely unaware of this polluting factory and second, the NPRI does not disclose whether or not these fall within the legal standards for what a factory can or can not emit, and how much. The other community that was nabbed by the NPRI radar was the Yorkwoods community (Appendix D4, Table 2), but to a much lesser extent, with only 2 companies showing up. The first company was Booth Centennial, a healthcare linen service, 1.45 km in distance from the Yorkwoods elementary school. Booth only released these chemicals as a transfer for disposal, but it is worth noting that a by-product of their services is chloroform, a compound that with long-term exposure damages liver and kidneys, and is a suspected carcinogen. The other company, Faurecia Automotive is located at 350 Norfinch drive, approximately 3.3km from the school. The only compounds that registered NPRI on were Magnesium, Mercury and Chromium, and these were all transferred for recycling. The third community in question, St. Jamestown, did not register at all on the NPRI website, and this is not surprising as it is a more urban location with far less land available for the kind of industry that would be obliged to report. In sum, while it is extremely useful to have this information, especially in terms of making it accessible to the public and those who are residents of the community or concerned about this citys environmental health, it is terribly arduous to acquire and
17
understand. The NPRI website is vague and doesnt offer much information as to the legality of all these releases. More over, the other Environment Canada websites are equally as obscure, with legislation easy to access but requiring a science degree to decipher. The implications of this are that people in these low-income communities not only need a computer and the internet to get this information but would require the expert opinion of someone knowledgeable in this field to make sense of the news theyve acquired. The products the people buy and the commercial services that they use tell us a lot about their community. Patterns of consumption and the availability of various consumer choices varies markedly across neighbourhoods. The next section reviews marketing data that reflects the consumer tastes and behaviours of our neighbourhood residents as well as the availability of various consumer choices.
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Understanding Neighbourhoods by their consumer preferences: An Analysis of Marketing Information As Jane Jacobs notes (1961)21, successful cities are multi-dimensional and diverse in that they do not just cater to a single industry or a single demographic group. They are full of stimulation and creativity because the community is constantly being refreshed by the ideas and preferences of newcomers. A variety of information exists on neighbourhoods in Toronto that can provide a perspective on whether Toronto has the dimensions and diversity that are features of successful cities. This information includes a) demographics, such as age, education, income, occupation, dwelling and family size; b) activities, such as work, hobbies, vacation, entertainment, shopping and sports; c) interests such as food and media; and finally d) habits such as product preference and purchase patterns.
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Clusters of Neighbourhoods in Greater Toronto: PSYTE Marketing Database
Bottom 52 Clusters 49.6%
3 S1 28 9 U3 S1 36 U4
20 12 U4 S3
6 S1
8 S2 25 U2 16 S2 2 33 U1 U3
Top 8 Clusters 50.4%
Cluster 4 U1 4.3% 7 S1 5 S2 14 S4 10 S3 21 U2 29 U4
59 U6
13 T1
Cluster 41 U2 8.4%
Clusters of Neighbourhoods in Greater Toronto: PSYTE Marketing Database
Bottom 52 Clusters 49.6%
9 S1 36 U4
3 S1 28 U3
20 12 U4 S3
6 S1
8 S2 25 U2 16 S2 2 33 U1 U3
Top 8 Clusters 50.4%
Cluster 4 U1 4.3% 7 S1 5 S2 14 S4 10 S3 21 U2 29 U4
59 U6
13 T1
Cluster 41 U2 8.4%
In order to better comprehend consumer behaviour patterns in each of our study communities, we analyzed data from Compusearchs PSYTE system. PSYTE system classifies neighbourhoods and their households into clusters based on the assumption 20
that people with similar socio-economic and demographic composition share similar patterns of consumer behaviour toward products, services, media and promotions. These clusters are multivariate creations where residents postal codes are analyzed along with such data from 1996 Census Enumeration Area (EA), vehicle registration files and national and private surveys. First introduced in the mid-1930s, this method of approach has been proven reliable for widespread commercial applications. There are also limitations of these data which we will discuss after the review of our findings. In sum, our analysis confirms that Toronto is a diverse and vibrant metropolis with distinct clusters living in different neighbourhoods. Appendix D5 contains detailed information about the marketing preferences of residents in each of these clusters. The first neighbourhood on which this project focuses is Warden Woods located in the Northeast part of Toronto in Scarborough. The three clusters with the highest representation in Warden Woods are Cluster 41, 28 and 25. Cluster 41, the High Rise Melting Pot, has the highest representation in Warden Woods with 35.2%. This cluster is characteristic of people who live in big city apartment blocks and are immigrants, many from Eastern Europe. While education, households and occupations are all relatively mixed, these people are more likely to shop at Knob Hill Farms indicating a desire to buy in bulk and to save money. They are also more likely to read the Toronto Sun which caters to more of a working class audience and to watch the Womens Television Network suggesting that women are present in the household. Activities in which they are involved including attending college and computer trade shows suggesting a desire for education and career. Career aspirations are typical of new immigrants whose motivation for coming to Canada is often economic opportunity. Cluster 28, Conservative Homebodies, is the second biggest with 13.3%. This cluster consists predominantly of older singles, couples and small families. They are of middle income status, work in blue/grey collar Clusters of Neighbourhoods in St. James occupations and are of Town: PSYTE Marketing Database mainly lower educational attainment. Dwellings are U1 4 other, single-detached and S3 U4 dominated by '50s and 12 20 U6 '60s vintage. Eastern U2 Top 4 58 41 European immigrants Clusters U6 79.2% make up 12% of this 59 Cluster 3 U4 44.1% U4 cluster. While 56 Conservative homebodies U4 differ from the High Rise 51 U1 2 Clusters of Neighbourhoods in Yorkwoods Melting Pot in that they School: PSTYE Marketing Database mainly live in detached homes and are older, they Cluster 59 too have an interest in U6 11% saving money as they U4 shop at No Frills. 29 U2 Top 3 21 Similarly, they read the S4 Clusters 23 79.7% Toronto Sun and watch Cluster 41
T2 35 U2 34.6% S4 14
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the womens television network. People in this cluster are older as they are more likely to have a grandchild born in the past year and visit the African Lion Safari. Cluster 25, is the Asian Mosaic, and represents 11.1% of the Warden Woods population. This cluster includes inner city areas in which Chinese and other Asians are concentrated. Dwellings are older, a mixture of owned, single-detached, rented semis and low-rises. Many families have children and typically these are teenagers, often at university. The presence of this cluster in this suburban area suggests that this is an ethnic group that has chosen to settle in relatively large numbers in one area of Toronto and thus their culture influences behaviour and consumer habits. For instance they are more likely to listen to multicultural music and radio, watch soccer, attend foreign films and eat at oriental restaurants. Similar to the other two clusters they are more likely to shop at a cheap grocery store, namely Save on, likely in part because they have children. This cluster represents an Asian enclave outside of the downtown core. Perhaps these people are among a second wave of Asian immigrants or second generation immigrants who moved to a more suburban area. It is evident that Warden Woods is a desirable neighbourhood for immigrants and ethnic groups such as the Asian Mosaic, thus the range of restaurants, stores, available foods and products would be influenced by the different cultures who live in Warden Woods. Interestingly, while there are many different cultures represented in this neighbourhood, people who live in Warden Woods seem to share similar social class and economic level. The second neighbourhood on which this project focuses is St. James Town located in downtown Toronto. The three clusters with the highest representation are 36, 41 and 20. Cluster 36, Young Urban Intelligentsia, make up 44.1% of St. James Town. This cluster consists of very well-educated singles and some couples renting mainly newer apartments and other dwellings. They have very few children, a large percentage are university students and occupations are white collar and executive/professional. These people are more likely to shop at Ikea which shows that they are furnishing their homes and probably own a car since the store has only been on the subway line very recently. They also shop at Mountain Equipment Co-op, which shows they are interested in outdoor recreational activities. In addition, they are more likely to be attending university and read Time and Saturday Night magazine, watch Bravo and attend jazz concerts. These preferences indicate that this cluster is quite cultured and interested in entertainment. Cluster 41, the High Clusters of Neighbourhoods in Warden Rise Melting Pot, consists Woods: PSYTE Marketing Database of 20.8% of St James town. As discussed earlier this cluster consists of many Cluster 17 U6 S3 6.7% immigrants who live in big 59 U2 city apartment blocks. This U4 25 29 cluster differs from the U3 Top 4 S4 28 Clusters other two clusters in this 23 66.3% Cluster 41 U6 neighbourhood in that the U2 35.2% 48 others are not as young and
U6 60 U6 58 U4 51
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have a lower educational standard and income level. Their economic status is evident in that they shop at Knob Hill Farms in order to buy in bulk and to save money. They are also more likely to read the Toronto Sun as opposed to the Toronto Star which caters to a more educated audience. Activities are centered on improving income through attending college and computer trade shows, rather than the entertainment focus of the other two clusters. Cluster 20, are Young Urban Professionals, comprising 8.1% of St James Town. This cluster consists of young singles and some couples, predominantly renting older other dwellings and apartments in downtown areas of big cities. People in this cluster are very well-educated and work in professional, managerial and high-status white collar jobs. About 20% are "ethnic". The preferences of this cluster are very similar to that of the Young Urban Intelligentsia in that they shop at Ikea and Mountain Equipment Co-op, watch Bravo, read Food and Drink and Saturday Night and attend jazz concerts. As evidenced by the characteristics of these three clusters, St. James Town consists of many young and professional people who are well educated and have a good income, are very cultured and spend their money on entertainment and self-improvement (fitness club). These features contrast with those in the High Rise Melting Pot who have lower incomes, are interested in different media and have shopping habits. The final neighbourhood focused on in this study is Yorkwoods which is located at Jane and Finch in the north end of Toronto. The three clusters with the highest representation in this neighbourhood are 41, 21 and 59. Cluster 41, High Rise Melting Pot, consist of 34.6% of Yorkwoods. It is evident that cluster 41 is a very significant cluster in all three neighbourhoods as it is the only cluster represented in all three neighbourhoods. This cluster prefers to read the Toronto Sun which is evident of the broad appeal of this newspaper across the city. From the Suns perspective, this means that their advertising does not have to be restricted to promoting goods, services and event from only a few areas across the city. Cluster 21, Europa, makes up 34% of Yorkwoods and consists of middle-aged and older families of European, particularly Italian, descent. Dwellings are older, singledetached, low-rise row housing. Occupations are blue and grey collar and children are common. The Italian culture is evident in this cluster as they buy espresso, Italian champagne, watch and play soccer and watch boxing. Shopping at Knob Hill Farms to save money and buy in bulk, visiting Marineland and being more likely to own a van supports the finding that most households contain children in this cluster. In addition they prefer to read the Toronto Sun. Cluster 59, Big City Stress, represents of 11.1% of Yorkwoods. This cluster is characteristic of an inner city urban neighbourhood with the second lowest average household income. The predominant age skew is young and almost everyone rents. Dwellings are older, low-rise with some newer, high-rise and household types include singles, couples and lone parent families. There is a significant but mixed "ethnic" presence and unemployment levels are very high. People have very low incomes here so they prefer to shop at Food Basics in order to save money. They are more likely to watch NBA basketball, boxing and the super-channel. There is a focus on sports and movies in these television preferences. Perhaps NBA basketball is popular because there are young people who see these basketball stars as their role models. Many NBA players have been able to rise above their economic circumstances as a result of their athletic ability and
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residents in Yorkwoods may be hoping for the same opportunity. They are more likely to attend vocational training as opposed to college or university which could suggest that college and university are either too expensive for this cluster or academic achievement is not as important as it is to other clusters. In addition, people in this cluster spend a lot of money on public transportation suggesting that they are young and do not have or cannot afford cars. Yorkwoods is a neighbourhood with a mixture of ethnic groups with a low level of education and low income. Two clusters are very sports oriented in their activities and television viewing suggesting that sports are quite important to working class people as entertainment and activities. The working class atmosphere is further evident in the preference of the residents to read the Toronto Sun. The profile of these neighbourhoods suggests that in Warden Woods and Yorkwoods, the more suburban neighbourhoods, that there are long-term, stable residents and newcomers who aspire to be long-term residents or are transients in the neighbourhood until they get more stable economically and can move to another higher status neighbourhood. In contrast in St. James Town, in downtown, there is a mix of new immigrants who rent their homes and economically privileged residents who want to be close the amenities and culture found downtown. It is clear from the data that Warden Woods, St. James Town and Yorkwoods are not homogenous neighbourhoods and that the diverse ethnic and economic groups found in these neighbourhoods reflect the diversity of Toronto. The marketing data from PSYTE have been valuable in providing us with better understanding of general consumer patterns of our study communities. However, given the mass production nature of the marketing industry, we must also ask ourselves the following questions: 1) How reliable is this data? 2) What are the assumptions made by these marketing researchers? And most importantly, how does the publication of this data benefit the individuals who reside in these communities? Unfortunately, the marketing data report should be used with caution both for the accuracy of the information reported and for the stereotypes perpetuated. Publication of such data can portray the neighbourhood residents as not having much consumption benefits, hence making future business investors to not invest in this neighbourhood. For instance, we have found from our focus group meetings, although residents are willing to spend their money on shopping, shopping is limited due to lack of nearby grocery stores (Warden Woods Focus group). The continuing passivity of the business investors in these communities has strengthened the negative stereotypes of the neighbourhood. Furthermore, the lack of business in these communities contributes to more stressful living conditions for the community members. Although one can argue that it is not economically profitable to invest in such areas, the lack of support in these areas will ultimately result in community disintegration and lack of essential services. In sum, these data which are intended to help businesses make decisions about whether to invest in a community. While such data offer a window into some of the culturally distinct consumer preferences and differences across neighbourhoods, caution must be taken when interpreting such preferences. As we will discuss in the next section, community needs and resources reflected in data such as PSYTE often do not match sentiment of actual residents. As our next analysis of focus group indicates, there seems
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to be contradictions and discrepancies between what the residents say about their community and how outsiders such as PSYTE portray the study communities.
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Focus Groups with Study Neighbourhood Residents: Health, Stress, and Community Resources
Focus groups were conducted to assess the subjective experience of the social and physical environments of members within each of the three communities. All groups consisted of 5-6 people from various cultures and countries. There were differences amongst the groups. In particular, the Warden Woods and Yorkwoods focus groups were predominantly females who were above 30 years old and not born in Canada. While the St. James Town focus group consisted predominantly of males under age of 30 who were born in Canada. This demographic difference is reflected in the various responses given to the informal and formal questions asked. (Refer to Appendix A). All responses to questions were collected for examination of general and specific observations made by the participants. Responses were then subsequently structured under the following heading: Health and Stressors, Community Risks and Resources and Community Services. There are limitations to the following depiction, as the opinions expressed do not necessarily illustrate the entire social and physical environment within each of the three communities. For example, given that there is an inter-group demographic difference, how would the environmental depiction of stressors within the neighborhood change if predominantly Canadian born older men or younger women were to participate? Other intra-group differences not necessarily apparent in the following summation are also apparent. Health and Stressors Stressors varied for all participants. Generally, all three focus groups participants felt that lack of money was an important stressor. For example, one participant said that I have no money while another participant felt that paying rent and bills was a stressor. There were differences in what participants perceptions of stressors based on the age, gender and/or area that they lived in. For example, older females felt that getting older caused stress, while some females, regardless of age, felt that everyday living, too many things to do, and not enough time and worry about their childrens well-being (for example, I want my kids to be the best, or children not doing their homework) caused stress. This is contrasted with the younger participants who stated that career and lack of job skills were stressors. Also, young male participants in the St. James Town focus group felt that stereotypes, lobbying and strict control hassles, security, cops caused stress while female participants in the Warden Woods focus group felt that there are no grocery shops nearby thus making shopping difficult (for example, no body to help with carrying grocery bags). These stressors elicit various feelings, including frustration, sadness, anger, and worry. Moreover, male participants in the St. James Town focus group felt that they were violated (for example, security taking pictures for no purpose) when confronted with stress. All participants varied in the actions taken in response to the above-mentioned stressors. Socially, interacting (for example talking, going out, talking about problems, going on a family picnic) with friends, neighbors and/or family friends (for example, spouse, daughter, and some participants felt that friends become family) was the most common response/action taken by each of the three groups participants. Food was also a common approach used to deal with stress. In some instances, participants
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would eat more when faced with some of the above stressful situations. Others would eat less. For example one participant stated that when he was too stressed he couldnt eat. Individually, some individuals coped with stress by being alone, talk[ing] to self, (for example, Ill be fine), letting it out and taking a big breath. Others felt that by making themselves more busy or by biting their tongue, they could ignore the problem and put it away or accept the fact that some things cant be changed. For example a few individuals from one focus group felt that working was a strategy to stay out from the bad sides. Some participants would respond by seeking job agencies within the community or seek job skills. In addition, there were participants in all three groups who coped with stress through participating in various activities such as exercising, reading and cooking (baking). Overall, doing something that participants enjoyed helped to improve the situation. For example dancing, volunteering, sewing, get something I want (for example buy something for myself, go shopping), going outside and getting fresh air made individuals feel better. Perspective and comparisons also helped. In addition, the perspective and knowledge that the individual took, seemed to vary according to age and gender. For example, women with children felt that knowing that I have good children and that the children are problem free or I have done a good job raising them helped to make things better. While those participants without children, mainly those individuals in the St. Jamestown focus group felt that having friends going through the same situation and that people are in the same boat assisted in making things better. Individuals, regardless of age felt grateful and that my problem isnt that bad when comparing to others who are worse off. Keeping perspective that individuals have good health and in one instance knowing that there are a lot of improvements in my neighbourhood made individuals feel better. Making comparisons was also a way that some participants defined health. For example, when asked, how do you define being healthy? most individuals would base their definition on what was unhealthy. For example, many felt that being free from sickness and aches and pains was being healthy. However some participants defined being healthy as being able to function. For example, if you are mobile and functioning and taking good care of yourself then you are healthy. Some individuals feel that being healthy means eating good food. For example, according to a few of the participants Its what you eat The type of food you eat and eating at least three meals a day. When asked about accessing health care services, all three focus group participants generally expressed a dislike for doctors that prevented them from seeking health care. They feel that they would see a doctor if something serious happens. Participants feel that that visiting doctors does not help, is time consuming and by avoiding the doctor they will be okay. For example, when asked why a woman with heart problems does not go to the doctor even when she feels pain, she responded, Because they do nothing. Other participants expressed disdain for doctors; My mom passed away with cancer. They did nothing for her. I hate doctors...just learn to deal with it yourself. Some participants take care of illness such as a common cold through selfcare (for example, a couple of women indicated that they use self-remedies). There were a couple of individuals who did frequent health care services and did not express dislike for doctors. For example, one woman indicated that she takes her children often to the doctors for regular check ups.
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Regardless of the dislike felt for doctors, distance is a barrier for participants in the Warden Woods focus group, while individuals in the Yorkwoods and St. James Town focus group feel that, in terms of distance, there are plenty of health care services accessible within their community (for instance in the Yorkwoods community there is a walk-in clinic in the Jane and Finch Mall and a hospital near Jane and Finch). Thus, compared to Warden Woods, the other two focus groups did not indicate any physical barriers to accessing health care. However, individuals from the Warden Woods focus group indicated that accessing health care services (for example family doctors and walkin clinics) was difficult because they would have to travel farther and expend more money for bus fare. Community Resources and Risks There are several programs and communities within the neighbourhoods that individuals felt were resourceful. For example, in the Yorkwooods focus group, participants mentioned a literacy program, tutoring programs and ESL classes that are accessible by virtue of living in the neighbourhood. Within the St. James Town neighbourhood, participants described several ESL classes and community specific associations, for example senior Tamil groups and Philippino associations. Also, in this neighbourhood there are several events that are hosted by various agencies and communities. One participant described the recent International Day of Elimination of Racism, hosted by youth and Parks and Recreations, was cool and allowed youth to discuss discrimination within the area. Participants also described that the Rose Avenue community center as a good resource that helped kidsstay out of trouble. The Warden Woods focus group described how their community center (Warden Woods) has various programs offered to them and how individuals have found the people with the community center very helpful and friendly. Moreover, the Warden Woods community center delivers a newsletter to residents within the community and has doctors available at the center a certain day of the week for those who do not have health insurance. Also, there are various communities that reflect the diverse countries of origin within the neighbourhood. For example, there is an East African group, Southeast Asian and Caribbean. All three focus groups discussed how a stigma and reputation of their neighbourhood impacts the community and stress. For example, one woman from the Yorkwoods focus group indicated that the the painting of Jane and Finch is not good its not the way you live, its how you live there. Its all this negative things about Jane and FinchIt pisses me offyou see you are not looking at me. Similarly, another participant stated, bad things happen. Bad things happen everywhere. I am not going to stay in my house because I am afraid of bad things happening you know. Accordingly, there [was] no problem accessing police in both the Yorkwoods community and St. James Town. Participants attribute the swarming of police in a wink to something deep, stigma and racial profiling. One participant described an incident whereby she was stereotyped by a police officer as a person who lives in the projects: Hes an officer. Hes supposed to talk to me in better manners. She elaborates further by stating, I am not saying that bad doesnt happen. But they [the police] dont take the time to find out and do it in a proper way. A participant in the Warden Woods focus group also discussed the stigma associated with her neighborhood
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It is true that people just put you down and look at you in that way because we live in subsidized housing but they dont know your background or what youre capable of or what you have made and what your financial status or anything. All three groups feel that the stigma also affects how others perceive them, how neighbors do not tell the truth about where they are living and pizza delivery people not delivering to the area. In addition, several participants in the St. James Town focus group felt that security guards and police officers that patrol the area unjustly treated them. During the focus group they described several such instances, for example, being ticketed by security for hanging out in front of their friends buildings. In one example an individual, after describing unjust treatment by security in buildings, elaborates between the difference between public and the high turnover amongst privately owned security: We can really do something with the city but when it goes to private buildings you cant really do anything about it. In addition, all three focus groups feel that the crime that is perceived in the community is a result of stigma and outsiders doing crime in the community. Furthermore, some individuals expressed that by living in the St. James Town or Yorkwoods community, people that they know, and in some cases even themselves, felt if you cant get out of this area you become part of it. Similarly, a woman from the Yorkwoods focus group expressed that People stress themselves out you know because they say I am here and I am tied here. You think that you are here and you are here forever. In the latter instance, she recommends to people who say this to think that whats good about this area. Also, an individual from the St. Jamestown focus group states that being tied means that you develop new relationships with others and support. Community ties within each three focus groups were described as closely knit and pocket like. For example, there are pockets of various ethnic communities within all three neighborhoods. Among the St. James Town focus group, individuals feel that people mostly interact with people within their own building. Accordingly, this is a result of the strict rules regarding trespassing, which are enforced by the security guards. Regardless, participants from the group felt that they had very close ties over they years with various people from various buildings within the area. As one individual describes his community everyone is very close. According to participants in the Warden Woods community center, individuals described previous networks and the community center as being helpful in meeting people and maintaining networks. Among participants from the Yorkwoods focus group, individuals were also members in residential groups. One participant feels that now people are trying to be more friendly with each other. A program that is needed in the Yorkwoods neighbourhood, according to the individuals (the majority of males) from the Yorkwoods and St. James Town area, was a mentoring program. As one participant describes, You know men helping the young men. And not even thirty year olds. Forty year olds. Coming down and dealing with these eighteen and nineteen year olds and just talk to them about life and what you need and how to be successful. How to save your money, how to invest your money and little things they need to help them. And thats what we need down here and we dont have that.
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Also, individuals from the St. James Town focus group discussed how important language classes are for newcomers who dont speak English. Furthermore, individuals from the Warden Woods focus group also described how there are garbage/recycling, shopping and ice/snow clearing issues within the neighborhood. For example, some women indicated that people throw their garbage on the ground because there is a lack of garbage cans; that during winter, snow is not cleared properly, thus creating huge snow banks that block access to the bus; and a group shopping bus service set up during the month would be affordable and easier. Community Services Ultimately, there is a lack of grocery stores within walking distance in the Warden Woods neighborhood. Women from the focus groups indicated that local places included Dominion on Danforth Avenue, Wal-Mart and No Frills. However, because of the shopping stores location, grocery shopping is even more expensive because women have to pay two bus fairs for every trip. Participants from the St. James Town and Yorkwoods focus groups indicated that there was an abundance of shopping stores within walking vicinity. For example, St. James Town participants listed Dominion, Loblaws, No Frills and Food Basics, while Yorkwoods participants shop at places such as Galactic Brothers and Price Choppers. All focus groups described how expensive TTC is. According to individuals from Warden Woods, the frequency of bus service is troublesome. There is only one bus that runs every half hour because there is a lack of people using the route. Conversely both St. James Town and Yorkwoods participants indicated that bus service is frequent and reliable within their neighborhoods. In addition, according to a woman from the Yorkwoods community and school services were not good. When asked how one participants brother got through school without being able to read or write, he stated they just passed himyou see, its bad. According to the same participant, the quality of high schools is poor and a joke. Similarly, a woman with children in the elementary school is getting involved with tutoring because she feels that the quality of schooling at the primary level is poor. Ultimately, one participant feels that this is a result of poor teaching and that teachers dont care anymore. Conversely, the participants in the St. James Town focus group felt that there are plenty of high quality of public and Catholic primary and secondary schools (for example, Jarvis and Harbord Ave) within the vicinity. According to one woman teachers are really helpful. Participants in the Warden Woods group also felt that the quality of schools within their area was good. One participant in the Warden Woods focus group did feel that a library was necessary and that there were a lack of recreational opportunities and parks for individuals within the community. The closest parks and recreational center involved using two bus tickets. Overall, there are library services and parks and recreational opportunities available in St. James Town and Yorkwoods. In sum, focus groups help us understand how individual residents within a community perceive community and individual concerns and health determinants. Furthermore, the focus groups provide an opportunity to personally meet residents,
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enabling us to begin to build trust for future studies. But most importantly, conducting focus groups gives residents a chance to have their voices heard. I t is evident from the stress exercises that it is critical to design programs that serve the communitys individual needs directly and not just what the outsiders bring and believe what is important.
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Service Environment: Description
By examining the relationship between health and the service environments of St. James Town, Yorkwoods and Warden Woods, this section provides an overview of the types of services offered in these neighbourhoods, how the residents interpret and use these services, which demographic groups the services target and where these services are lacking. By linking the presence and proximity of grocery stores, public transportation, community centres, charitable organizations and health clinics to a neighbourhoods sense of community, involvement and safety, this investigation reveals how the state of a communitys service environment shapes experiences of stress, solidarity and wellbeing. Existing service directories, expert and community leader interviews and focus groups were used to evaluate the level of community services and their impact on the neighbourhood. Recreation Centres Yorkwoods, St. Jamestown and Warden Woods have community centres directly located within each neighbourhood, providing recreational activities and social support services. Oakdale Community Centre, located at 350 Grandravine Drive, is a city-run centre in Yorkwoods offering a range of arts, athletic and recreational activities for preschoolers, children, teens and adults. Although this community centre provides important programs and resources in the community, it is small and is currently operating at capacity (Yvonne Anderson). The Driftwood Community Centre, a Toronto Parks and Recreation facility located at 4401 Jane Street, north of the Yorkwoods community, offers sport and recreation programs similar to those at Oakdale Community Centre. The Jane and Finch Community and Family Centre, a United Way sponsored facility at 4400 Jane Street provides a place where residents can go and unwind. There are a lot things there that eliminate stress and help the community (Focus Group). Programs focus upon the needs of families, women and newcomers, including leader-in training courses, citizenship classes, settlement services and addiction support. In St. James Town, Rose Avenue Community Recreation Centre, located at 675 Ontario Street, offers after school programming, a variety of sports and activities including basketball, martial arts, ball hockey and soccer, providing opportunities for team building and socialization. According to residents of SJT during the focus group, a lot of people just come here to keep themselves out of troublea lot of people come together here. Cabbage town Youth Centre, with locations at 2 Lancaster Avenue, 650 Parliament Street and 240 Wellesley Street offers arts and crafts, sports and an afterschool program and is equipped with a pool, weight room and computer facilities open to the SJT community. A new facility, the Wellesley Community Centre, scheduled to open in 2004, will include a library, daycare, recreational facilities, meeting space for community groups and cultural festivals, and a community kitchen. However, the number of allocated childcare spaces in this new facility will not sufficiently address the childcare needs of the neighbourhood (From class meeting in SJT). According to Alice Gorman, a Toronto Public Health employee, the new community centre is vital as it will provide a place for people to meet and discusssome people in SJT would like more places to 32
meet; meeting space is really inadequate (interview by J. Denis with Alice and Elaine). According to Elaine Ebach, theres no place for large populations of people to congregate. Tamils might have a big celebration, but lack the space to invite Filipinos. Therefore, in order to get that cross-cultural thing happening, they need bigger space (interview by J. Denis). Although the Rose Avenue CC and the Cabbagetown Youth Centre are trying to open up more facilities, such as boxing and swimming, the need is much greater than these two organizations can address. Adolescent girls often meet in bathrooms because theres nowhere else to go (interview by J. Denis). In Warden Woods, the Warden Woods Community Centre, located at 74 Fir Valley Court, is the primary recreational facility. This United Way member agency offers a wide range of services including family support programs, youth and childrens programs, newcomer services and the Scarborough Conflict Resolution Service. According to Christine Caballero, Director of Neighbourhood Services at Warden Woods Community Centre, the organization talks very clearly about working with people, and not for themabout creating interdependency, and not a dependency (interview by S. Park). The centre offers a diversity of programming for all age groups; toddlers, children, youths, adults and seniors and the majority of their non-senior services are free. Citizenship classes, sewing and knitting clubs, computer classes and employment support provide opportunities for socializing, developing social networks, language and employment skills. According to one focus group participant, people come to the community center to get a lot of advice. The community center is a place in the neighbourhood for everyone who is new to go to. Thats where they get all their information. However, for outdoor, athletic and sports activities, residents in Warden Woods must travel outside the community to the Birchmount Community Centre at 93 Birchmount Road, south of the Danforth, requiring two buses to get there (Focus Group). Having to travel is a major barrier to accessing recreation services outside the neighbourhood, according to one focus group member, if you have 3 or 4 kids how are you going to manage to take 2 or 3 buses. I hate it. It is very discouraging (Focus Group). Although all three neighbourhoods have community centres located within the area, the level of service, types of programs and organization of the facilities differ considerably. Yorkwoods offers the best recreational facilities of the study. In Warden Woods, the Warden Woods Community Centre is an important facility in the neighbourhood, however it lacks the space and resources to plan athletic and outdoor activities, forcing community members to travel outside the area for those services. In St. James Town, although Rose Avenue CC and the Cabbagetown Youth Centre provide recreational and social activities, there are not enough daycare programs, meetings spaces and facilities to meet the needs of the densely populated SJT community. Common problems within the existing recreational facilities in the three communities are a lack of space for the expansion of services and high demand for services and programs. Despite these shortcomings, neighbourhood community centres provide opportunities for residents to develop a sense of community and solidarity, built trust and social bonds. Community and Non-Profit Organizations Charitable and non-profit organizations, public libraries and services for at-risk groups are essential in developing social support networks and health among
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community members. In the Yorkwoods community, the Salvation Army, located at 20 Yorkwoods Gate, provides emergency material assistance, food, clothing and household items to residents in addition to counselling and family support services. The Jane/Finch Concerned Citizens Organization, housed inside York Gate Mall offers youth support services, providing academic, cultural and recreational activities for children and youths grades two to twelve. The Lisle Multi Centre, at 95 Eddystone Avenue, just west of the Yorkwoods neighbourhood offers employment programs and conflict mediation services while the Delta Family Resource Centre at 2721 Jane Street offers caregiver and child programs and job search workshops for new immigrants and convention refugees. The Jane and Finch Boys and Girls Club offers after school programming, homework assistance, sports, youth leadership opportunities and computer literacy courses for young people. Although Yorkwoods is surrounded by a number of community organizations, the Salvation Army is the only organization located directly within the neighbourhood. According to Yvonne Anderson, a Community Development Officer with the City of Toronto, in terms of community organizations physically in the neighbourhood the issue of space makes it difficult: Where would you put them? (Y. Anderson). In Yorkwoods, youth are the most underserved group, with few organizations specifically addressing their needs. As the census data revealed, Yorkwoods has a higher proportion of unemployed youth and youth not attending school than the other two study neighbourhoods and the Toronto CMA (J. Denis, pg. 21). In the Yorkwoods focus group, a member expressed the importance of positive role models for youth in the neighbourhood. One man felt that Yorkwoods needed, men helping the young men coming down and dealing with these eighteen and nineteen year olds, [to] just talk to them about life and what you need and how to be successful. How to save your money, how to invest your money and the little things they need to help them. And thats what we need down here and we dont have that. The transition from school to the workforce is difficult for young people in the community, and there is a lack of services and programs in Yorkwoods designed to help with this transition. In St. James Town, according to Alice Gorman, a majority of the agencies tend to be located around the neighbourhood (not inside it). It seems like theres a lot of services, but it doesnt always pan out that way (interview by J. Denis). An important organization in SJT is Growing Together which works with parents and children, employing community development principles. By targeting children aged 0 to 6, this organization, offering pre/post-natal classes and activities for young children, attempts to integrate young families into the community. A primary service environment challenge in St. James Town is promoting and encouraging residents participation in programs. According to Elaine Ebach, different buildings and sections of the neighbourhood are aware of and use certain resources while others do not. In the case of Growing Together, Ebach notes that it seems to be heavily used by just three buildings, but theres 18 buildings in SJT. Thus the northeast corner buildings might not even know about Growing Together. Central Neighbourhood House, another service provider in the neighbourhood, offers programs for the elderly people in SJT. According to focus group participants, there are lot of people here who join different organizations to help this community. Residents in SJT identified the importance of language and employment resources that empower and assist residents in seeking out job opportunities and gaining an awareness of their rights.
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Warden Woods has a much lower level of community resources and charitable organizations in terms of proximity and accessibility compared to the other two communities. However, unlike Yorkwoods and St. James Town, Warden Woods has the potential real estate available for expanding the service environment of the community. The recently vacated Beckers factory remains an empty lot and Centennial College is planning to close its Warden campus. These closures represent potential land for social, economic and recreational services in the neighbourhood. Charitable organizations and community services vary by neighbourhood. Both Yorkwoods and St. James Town offer a variety of programs and centres for women, new immigrants and seniors. However in Yorkwoods, youth remain a neglected group, with inadequate programs directed at providing positive role models and assistance in the transition from school to the workplace. In St. James Town there is a need for increased daycare services, immigration support and employment assistance. In addition, given the size the neighbourhood, use and awareness of the programs offered to the community do not appear to be consistent. Steps must be taken to increase public knowledge of the resources available to residents and how residents can get involved. In contrast, Warden Woods does not have the level of services offered in the YW or SJT communities. Without a library, physical recreation centre or health clinic, these residents must travel outside the area to access the support and services they require. Although Yorkwoods and St. James Town lack available space for adding and expanding facilities, Warden Woods has a number of potential sites for growth in the service environment. Health Services Yorkwoods and St. James Town have readily accessible health care services while Warden Woods does not have any health clinics in close proximity to the neighbourhood. In Yorkwoods, Humber River Regional Hospital, Black Creek Community Health Centre, Youth Clinical Services and a walk-in clinic located in the Jane Finch Mall are easily accessible and available. In St. James Town, the Sherbourne Health Centre, St. James Town Health Center, Choice in Health Clinic and Health Centre at 410 are convenient for residents seeking health care. However, in Warden Woods, there are no health services in the neighbourhood. The closest clinics are the Eastwood Medical Clinic, located on Kingston Road, Total-Care Health Centre on Eglinton East and Emergency Medical Service located on Danforth Avenue. According to Christine Caballero, in terms of [community members] accessing physicians geographically, its a rotten area. Theres not much around. While Yorkwoods and St. James Town offer adequate health care services, Warden Woods requires a health clinic in closer proximity to the neighbourhood. Consumer Services Consumer services are readily available in both the Yorkwoods and St. James Town neighbourhoods but are lacking in Warden Woods. While residents in SJT benefit from grocery stores located directly inside the community, Yorkwoods citizens must venture one block north on Jane Street to access shopping services, making large shopping trips difficult. In Yorkwoods three shopping malls are located at the intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue: the Jane-Finch Mall, York Gate Mall and the Norfinch Shopping Centre. Price Chopper and No Frills, both large discount grocery stores, are
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located in these malls. St. James Town residents have access to a wide range of grocery and shopping outlets including the lower cost grocery stores, Food Basics and No Frills. Smaller, privately owned stores such as Shahnaz Fruits, Halifax Fish Market, St. James Town Butcher Shop and the Cabbagetown Mini Mart are also found in St. James Town. In Warden Wood there is a lack consumer services in close proximity to the neighbourhood. The closest shopping mall is the Warden Power Centre, offering outlet type shopping, but this centre, experiencing frequent store turnovers and is currently up for sale. According to community advocate, Christine Caballero, the state of the Warden Power Centre is a sign of the community as well. Its a sign of what people can afford and cant afford (interview by S. Park). For this community, anything they need for daily living requires traveling. According to one resident, most places you go to get groceries you have to pay 2 bus tickets (Focus Group) as one bus ticket will only take you to the subway. Although the option of a taxi was proposed, especially for women with children, another resident pointed out that when you take a taxi you only go shopping once a month. Although there are variety stores located within the neighbourhood, problems with landlords, renting practices and robberies has resulted in a high turnover of businesses and inflated prices. Unlike Yorkwoods and St. James Town, Warden Woods requires the addition of grocery and consumer services. Transportation All three neighbourhoods benefit from a comprehensive public transportation system. In Yorkwoods, there is bus service along Sheppard, Finch and Steeles Avenue that connect residents to the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. Keele and Jane Street buses travel south to the subway stations on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. However, Yorkwoods is not located directly on or even near a main subway line, forcing residents to rely on bus transportation. According Yvonne Anderson, there have been sporadic talks about extending the subway up to York University, but no action has been taken. For motorists, the community is in close proximity to Highways 400 and the 401. St. James Town has the most accessible public transportation service of the three study neighbourhoods, with streetcar, subway, bus and highway transport in close proximity. The Castle Frank and Sherbourne subway stations are close to the neighbourhood. Buses run along Parliament Street, Wellesley and Sherbourne and streetcars along Dundas and Carlton St. Motorists are close to the Don Valley Parkway. Despite a readily available transportation system, residents voiced concerned about the cost of these services. In Warden Woods the closest subway station is the Warden Station on the BloorDanforth subway line. There are also buses running up and down Warden Avenue which residents use to access the subway, malls, recreation centres and health clinics. Although residents appreciate the proximity of public transportation, the difficulty of having to travel to access basic services was emphasized. The necessity of transportation to accessing basic services makes the time and monetary costs of public transportation high in Warden Woods. Rather than improving public transportation services within the neighbourhoods, community leaders and residents emphasized the importance of minimizing the necessity of travel by enhancing the services and resources within the community.
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In sum, to enhance the service needs of these communities, we must work more closely with the community to come up with options together (Y. Anderson ). We must also use community development strategies designed to empower residents and build their trust. Residents in the three study neighbourhoods highlighted the importance of respect and the need to get the community together (SJT Focus Group). Recruiting current and former members of the community to help in the planning, managing and delivery of services is an approach supported by all three neighbourhood focus groups. In Yorkwoods, the importance of implementing programs targeting youths and youth employment is essential to enhance the service environment. In St. James Town, expanding the recreational, daycare and meeting space available to the population are the key service environment issues. In Warden Woods, the need for grocery stores, recreational facilities, a library and a health centre was stressed. The unavailability, inaccessibility and lack of social support services, consumer services, affordable transportation, recreational facilities and health care have profound affects on a neighbourhoods sense of community and its members feelings of health, wellness and belonging.
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Service Environment: A Geographic Birds Eye View
This section visually depicts the proximity of an assortment of services and amenities around our study neighbourhoods.
Services and Amenities Map of Warden Woods
Legend: 1 2 3 4 5
Warden Woods Community Centre Teesdale Centre Birchmount and St. Claire Daycare Warden Power Centre Eglinton Square Mall
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Services and Amenities Map of Yorkwoods
Legend: 1 2 3 4 5
Oakdale Community Centre Driftwood Community Centre Yorkwoods Public School Jane-Finch Mall Yorkgate Mall
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Services and Amenities Map of St. James Town
Legend: 1 2
Cabbagetown Youth Centre Silayan Community Centre
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Conclusion
A growing number of studies suggest that the characteristics of places matter in addition to the characteristics of people in determining levels of health and health disparities. Awareness of neighbourhood variations has existed since the 19th century. We are only now beginning to more fully explore the depth and breadth of this neighbourhood variation. Today there is a broad consensus that residents of socially and economically deprived communities experience worse health outcomes on average than those living in more prosperous areas. Most researchers also agree that focusing on places and people represent a potentially fruitful avenue for interventions to improve public health. This class has used various types of data collection methods in order to better understand how places matter in health (i.e. focus group discussions, expert interviews, systematic social observation, pseudo-experimental social capital experiments, archived historical documents, Census data, and marketing information). The students of this class have learned many lessons from completing this research from conducting focus groups to analyzing the Census data. Given that establishing the trust with our community residents was one of our most challenging experiences, we would like to send a special thanks to those who have trusted us and shared with us their life experiences. Only by building partnerships can we create healthy communities for the future. This report represents a first effort to characterize not only the people, but also the places where they live. By focusing on the residents and the residential settings where they spend much of their time, we are able to see how individual circumstances may be linked to environments and vice versa. Further efforts in the future, including a second offering of this project course during the 2003-2004 academic year, will extend this effort.
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Appendix A. Transcripts of Focus Group Conversations
For the sake of keeping this paper version of the report as short as possible, the lengthy focus group transcripts have been omitted here. However, the focus group transcripts are included in the PDF report available online at: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~bberry/Soc394.htm
Appendix B. Summary of Local Expert Interviews
Like with the focus group material, the lengthy expert interview transcripts have been omitted from this document. However, the transcripts are included in the PDF report available online at: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~bberry/Soc394.htm
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Appendix C. Code sheet for systematic social observation of street blocks
Domain SSO measures Positive features Physical environment Presence of sidewalks Bike lane width of sidewalks (sufficiently wide) quality of sidewalks (crumbling; wheelchair ramps) Foliage (trees, bushes, shrubs) street lights snow cleared Negative features Heavy traffic Graffiti Garbage litter on streets (general) cigarette butts needles/syringes dog poop empty alcohol bottles unattended dogs icy sidewalks Parked Cars Blocking the sidewalks property vandalism boarded housing vacant lots unkempt yards Abandoned car(s). Road filled with potholes Positive features Social environment people exercising children playing neighbourhood watch signs pedestrian traffic people bicycling Negative features adult/youths loitering gang presence prostitutes on the street drug activity not a soul in sight homelessness people begging for money People arguing or fighting. Notes -- brief description Check Off
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Appendix D: Canadian Census Charts and Tables
Family Structure Characteristics of Study Neighbourhoods Variable Never married (single), population 15 years and over by legal marital status Legally married (and not separated), pop. 15 yrs+ by legal marital status Total husband-wife families by family structure (20% sample data) Total lone-parent families by sex of parent (20% sample data) Female parent, lone-parent families Total number of never-married sons and/or daughters at home (20% sample data) 6 - 14 years, never-married sons and/or daughters at home Source: 1996 Canadian Census
TABLE: Gender, Marriage, and Family Characteristics in the Three Study Neighbourhoods Variable SJT Never married (single), population 15 years and over by legal marital status Legally married (and not separated), pop. 15 yrs+ by legal marital status Divorced population, 15 years and older, in percent Husband-wife families as percent of total families Never-married sons and/or daughters at home 6-14 years old Percent of all private households with non-family persons living there Persons 65 years and over in the population (20% sample data) Total Males 15 years and older Total Females 15 years and older Percent of males who are 15 years and older Percent of females who are 15 years and older Males, percent employed labour force 15 years and older Females, percent employed labour force 15 years and older Percent of families with income of under $10,000 Percent of families with income of $10,000-19,999 Percent of families with income of $20,000-29,999 Percent of families with income under $29,999 Percent of families with a male lone-parent Average family income $, male lone-parent families Percent of families with a female lone-parent Average family income $, females lone-parent families Percent of total families with a lone-parent 42.76% 39.56% 6.80% 73.32% 8.17% 33.07% 8.82% 6005 6480 80.85% 82.06% 60.03% 43.67% 15.12% 26.96% 21.83% 63.91% 3.85% $19,288 22.82% $19,054 26.68%
SJT 34.8% 32.2% 16.7% 6.1% 5.2% 27.1% 8.2%
YW 25.1% 32.1% 16.1% 10.3% 9.3% 42.4% 15.4%
WW 28.5% 31.3% 17.0% 7.9% 6.9% 34.2% 10.8%
CMA 25.2% 42.5% 22.6% 4.1% 3.5% 34.3% 11.6%
YW 35.91% 45.82% 6.66% 60.82% 15.38% 14.73% 4.33% 1475 1745 67.35% 72.61% 60.34% 38.68% 16.73% 21.63% 15.92% 54.28% 3.67% $27,092 35.10% $18,523 38.78%
WW 37.03% 40.65% 9.31% 68.42% 10.76% 23.85% 9.11% 3190 3575 75.74% 78.06% 58.15% 36.64% 16.43% 23.57% 18.99% 58.99% 3.66% $41,288 27.69% $17,563 31.58%
CMA 31.65% 53.30% 5.81% 84.53% 11.60% 15.37% 10.29% 1709310 1838705 78.60% 80.78% 67.40% 55.19% 6.30% 8.73% 10.32% 25.35% 2.33% $46,601 13.14% $33,065 15.47%
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Income of Study Neighbourhoods Compared to the Greater Toronto Area
SJT Family income distribution (% in each income range) Under $10,000, family income of all families $ 10,000 - $19,999, family income of all families $ 20,000 - $29,999, family income of all families $ 30,000 - $39,999, family income of all families $ 40,000 - $49,999, family income of all families $ 50,000 - $59,999, family income of all families $ 60,000 - $69,999, family income of all families $ 70,000 - $79,999, family income of all families $ 80,000 - $89,999, family income of all families $ 90,000 - $99,999, family income of all families $100,000 and over, family income of all families Family, household, and employment income ($) Average family income $ of all families Median family income $ of all families Average family income $, male lone-parent families Average family income $, females lone-parent families Average household income $ of all private households Median household income $ of all private households Average employment income $, all persons with employment income Average employment income $, all persons worked full year, full time Average employment income $, all persons worked part year or part time Poverty rate (%) Incidence of low income % - economic families Incidence of low income % - unattached individuals Incidence of low income % - population in private households Welfare rate (%) Government transfer payments % - composition of total income Source: 1996 Canadian Census 15.1 27.0 21.8 16.0 8.1 6.6 3.4 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.3 YW 16.7 21.6 15.9 16.3 12.7 7.8 4.5 2.0 1.2 0.0 0.8 WW 16.5 23.6 19.0 11.9 11.2 4.8 4.6 3.7 2.3 1.4 1.6 CMA 6.3 8.7 10.3 10.7 10.5 10.1 9.3 7.9 6.2 4.7 15.3
26752 23488 19288 19054 24894 20799 18086 24601 12918
29807 27747 27092 18523 32823 28579 18709 23743 13105
31268 25619 41288 17563 28122 20616 19596 28558 11663
63965 52952 46601 33065 60689 50109 31117 42451 17249
53.5 61.7 56.4
48.6 65.1 48
52 62.4 54.5
18.4 37.6 20.8
23.3
21.6
24
10.7
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Education and Employment in Study Neighbourhoods Compared to the Greater Toronto Area
SJT YW 41.1 22.7 49.5 14.4 1.9 16.3 10.7 9.8 3.4 15.4 12.2 WW 30.9 13.6 41.3 17.1 1.3 23.8 16.5 19.9 10.8 27.3 24.6 CMA 29.3 10.1 34.5 13.8 2.9 23.0 16.7 29.4 18.5 35.6 33.1
Education (%)
Percentage not attending school, age 15-24 years Highest level of schooling, 15 years and over Less than grade 9 Grades 9 to 13 Grades 9 to 13, with secondary school graduation certificate Trades certificate or diploma Other non-university education only Other non-university education only, with certificate or diploma University University, with bachelor's degree or higher Percentage of Males with postsecondary qualifications Percentage of Females with postsecondary qualifications 34.4 10.0 34.3 13.7 2.4 20.3 12.6 33.0 18.3 32.7 34.5
Employment (%)
Adult unemployment rate, age 25 years and over Participation rate, 25 years and over Employment-population ratio, 25 years and over Unemployment rate, males 25 years and over Unemployment rate, females 25 years and over Total unemployment rate, age 15 years and over Youth unemployment rate, age 15-24 years Participation rate, age 15 yrs+ in private households with children at home Employment-population ratio, 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Unemployment rate, 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Participation rate, males 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Employment-population ratio, males 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Unemployment rate, males 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Participation rate, females 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Employment-population ratio, females 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Unemployment rate, females 15yrs+ in private households with children at home Percentage of lone parents who are in the labour force Note: Source: 1996 Canadian Census; The youth unemployment rate in Warden Woods is nearly identical to that in Toronto CMA (and lower than our other study neighbourhoods). However, the adult unemployment rate in Warden Woods is more than double that in Toronto CMA (and higher than our other study neighbourhoods). 12.4 61.7 54 12.2 12.8 13.2 21 62.4 51.6 17.1 77.9 66.5 14.7 51.2 41 19.8 45.7 15 61 51.9 11.9 19.4 17.6 28.4 63.8 52.1 18.9 76.5 67.2 11 56.4 42.6 24.5 52.6 18.1 59.4 48.8 12.9 24.4 18 17.5 62.9 49 21.8 79.9 69.3 13.2 51.8 35.6 31.2 46.4 7.8 69.1 63.7 7.1 8.6 9.2 17.8 75.9 69.8 8.1 85.3 80.3 6.0 68.1 61.2 10.4 62.4
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Occupations and Residential Turnover in Study Neighbourhoods Compared to the Greater Toronto Area
Division E - Manufacturing industries, labour force population 15yrs + Division Q - Accommodation, food&beverage serv. indus., labour force 15yrs+ Percentage of labour force, 15 years and over, by occupational category A Management occupations, labour force population 15yrs+ B Business, finance & administrative occupations, labour force pop. 15yrs+ C Natural & applied sciences & related occupations, labour force pop. 15yrs+ D Health occupations, labour force population 15yrs+ E Occupations social science, educ., govern. serv.&religion, lab. force 15yrs+ F Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport, labour force 15 yrs + G Sales and service occupations, labour force 15 yrs + G4 Chefs and cooks, labour force 15 yrs + G8 Childcare and home support workers, labour force 15 yrs + G9 Sales and service occupations n.e.c., labour force 15 yrs + H Trades, transport & equip....