Health Equity Works (https://healthequityworks.wustl.edu/) from Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work has published some important work documenting health disparities here in St. Louis. One of their most frequently quoted findings is:
“Where you live in St. Louis has a powerful impact on your health. Residents of zip codes separated by only few miles have up to an 18-year difference in life expectancy. Because of considerable residential segregation in St. Louis, many areas with high African American populations are also areas with concentrated poverty and poor health. These neighborhoods often lack resources like healthy foods, safe green spaces for recreation, and convenient access to medical care.”
Here at Project CONTACT, we are also observing disparities in terms of access to mental health services for African American families. Please see the charts and table below that demonstrate that although African Americans constitute less than 20% of the entire metro population (https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02001&geo_ids=31000US41180&primary_geo_id=31000US41180), over half of the families we have served identify as African American.
At the Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (our home agency), we have a committee dedicated to highlighting issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their efforts help us strive to continually be aware of these types of data, which is particularly important given that we currently do not have any African American clinicians on our team.