Exploring Health Inequities and Redlining
Author(s): Mary Mulcahy
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
736 total view(s), 547 download(s)
- Health Inequities and Redlining NCRC images and discussion prompts.pptx(PPTX | 5 MB)
- Instructor Notes Health Inequities and Redlining.docx(DOCX | 18 KB)
- Student Worksheet Exploring Health Inequities and Redlining.docx(DOCX | 23 KB)
- Techniques for Successful Class Conversations on Sensitive Subjects.docx(DOCX | 37 KB)
- Redlining and Neighborhood Health » NCRC
- Navigating the NCRC website - YouTube
- License terms
Description
Overview
For this activity, students will investigate patterns of and relationships between historic redlining data and modern statistics of human health. Students will work in small groups to research a city of their choice using maps found on the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) website (https://ncrc.org/holc-health/). The NCRC website enables students to explore the HOLC redlining maps in conjunction with modern data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and demographic data from the Census Bureau. Like many data science projects, the NCRC website has impressive graphics or, using the data science lingo, “visualizations”. As students explore patterns of redlining and public health statistics, they are encouraged to reflect on how modern technology allows opportunities to explore data patterns in new ways.
This project is composed of a simple worksheet containing an overview and a set of questions that will help introduce students to redlining and how historic racism may have impacted modern patterns of health. This activity is very simple, and the only tools used in this activity are several internet sites. Students do not need to be familiar with any specialized computer programs to complete this activity. Although it is a very simple activity, students with extensive data science backgrounds may still find this exploration interesting.
Content learning objective(s)
- Use maps to explore public health issues by location.
Social justice and/or diversity/equity/inclusion learning objective(s)
- Describe redlining as an example of systemic racism.
- Describe how redlining could be related to current patterns of community health.
Quantitative learning objective(s)
- Describe how biologists answer research questions using databases and data science tools.
Course Information
Department/Program: Biology
Level: lower or upper level
Course type: lecture
Delivery mode: online or in-person, requires availability of computers
Students: biology majors or nonmajors
Number of students: variable
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
- Mulcahy, M. (2021). Exploring Health Inequities and Redlining. Social Justice and Community Change, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/2DBT-E831