Community Health- Rhinevault.docx - B Assessment 1 Skagit...

B. Assessment
1. Skagit County is located in north western Washington State and has 118,000 residents.
Mount Vernon is the largest city in the county and is made up of a little over 32,000 residents (US
Census Bureau, 2014) Mount Vernon is the county seat. Over the next twenty years the city is
anticipating almost a seventy percent increase in the population (City of Mount Vernon, n.d.). In
Skagit County, almost twelve thousand people are estimated to have been born in a different
country and eight thousand are not legal US citizens (United States Census, n.d.). Agricultural and
labor workers make up about eleven percent of the workforce while the overall unemployment rate
is about nine percent, which is a little higher the total rate in Washington (City Data, 2013). The
United States Census, n.d. estimates seventeen percent of the population is Hispanic in Skagit
County. According to City-Data, 2013, the average household income is $48,000 and eighteen
percent of the population is living in poverty.
The Hispanic and Asian populations make up sixty-two percent of the total population in poverty in
Mount Vernon, while sixty-six percent of females age fifteen and twenty-nine percent of males ages
eighteen to twenty-four are the largest group of below poverty people. Twenty-one percent of
children are considered to be in poverty (County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, 2013) increasing the
risk of morbidity and mortality. Eleven percent of women have children under eighteen at home
without a husband present (United States Census, n.d.) and eight percent of men have a child under
eighteen at home without a wife. Seventeen percent of the population depends on food stamps
and cash from the government (United States Census Bureau, n.d.) and this number is gradually
increasing. People over the age of sixty-five make up thirty percent of the population and over
eighty-five years of age make up two and a half percent (United States Census Bureau, n.d.).

In the downtown area of Mount Vernon, the neighborhoods are older and houses are moderately
maintained. There are sections of neighborhoods that are rundown and have multiple families living
in single houses. Poverty is evident by the yards that are dirt, the cars on blocks and gang graffiti.
There are many low income apartment buildings. One apartment building burned in July and has
not been repaired yet; the families were displaced and moved to different apartments. There are
newer neighborhoods in the developing area of Mount Vernon that have been built in the past five
years. These houses are similar looking and close together with smaller yards. The streets are clean
and well maintained with trees planted next to the sidewalks. Also mixed into the area of new
development are two neighborhoods near a golf course that have the highest taxes and are
beautifully maintained with large houses and large lots. The streets are clean and yards are green
with nice landscaping.