Overview

A community's vitality - or well-being - can be measured in a variety of ways. In creating CVI, MCIC began with fundamental optimism about community assets, even in traditionally overlooked communities. We sought indicators that would enhance traditional economic measures of vitality, and also embrace the human and cultural potential of neighborhoods in the region.

Each indicator selected for the Community Vitality Index had to meet three criteria;

(1) fit into the underlying structure of our social capital theory of community vitality,
(2) be available for the entire six-county area,
(3) be at the necessary level of geographic detail.

A number of the indicators were divided by population, land area, dwelling units, or other factors to make a more consistent model of descriptors of a healthy community. Once the indicators were selected and normalized (if necessary), they were each ranked and assigned percentile scores.

The following paragraphs present the theory and process behind the inclusion of each indicator and sub-index in the three components that make up the MCIC Community Vitality Index:

Social Capital
Economic Potential
Community Amenities

Social Capital Component The World Bank definition states that Social Capital is about the connections between people that allow communities to work together. The four sub-indices included in the Social Capital component were selected to capture elements that illustrate the effects of social capital in a communitys vitality. The Civic engagement sub-index is the most direct measure of residents engagement in the community and efforts to effect change through the democratic process. The Community Diversity sub-index explicitly values diversity with the belief that familiarity and comfort in dealing with a diverse population will be rewarded in the global economy and makes communities a more vibrant and attractive place to live. Two of the sub-indices, Interaction Potential and Stability, provide measures of factors that influence the ease or likelihood with which people form social networks. The Interaction Potential Sub-index Neighbor interaction is the percentage of households that are not linguistically isolated, a variable from the 2000 U.S. Census. While it is possible to function in a language other than English in communities with large immigrant populations, we believe that a common language is vital to a communitys capacity to participate fully in the larger social and economic structure of the region. Social support is the percent of households not comprised of a single person living alone. People in single-person households tend to have weaker social support systems and may be less involved in or committed to their geographic communities. Availability is the percent of households with one or more adults not in the labor force. These are households where it is more likely that someone will have time to invest in building relationships in the community that create social capital. The Stability Sub-index Mobility is the percentage of households that reported in the 2000 U.S. Census that they resided in the same house five years earlier. Residential stability contributes to neighborhood connectedness, increasing social capital, so mobility is an inverse indicator of stability. Immigration is the percentage of foreign-born residents who entered the United States (and the specific census tract) within five years of the 2000 U.S. Census. It is another indicator of mobility, and is a compounding factor inversely related to stability due to the significant social and cultural adjustments inherent in the immigration process. The Community Diversity Sub-index Ethnic Diversity ranks tracts by the percentage of the tract population that the largest racial/ethnic group comprises with the least diverse tracts getting the lowest percentile scores. Age Distribution groups are individuals aged 0-24, 25-44, and 45 or older; these groups each comprise approximately one-third of the population of the six-county area. Tracts are ranked inversely to their largest proportionate group, no matter what the preponderant age. Income Mix groups households with incomes of $0 - $34,999, $35,000 - $74,999, and $75,000 and above, each of which comprises approximately one-third of the households in the six-county area. Again, tracts were ranked inversely by percentage of households falling in any single income group.  Indicator  Ethnic Diversity  Age Distribution  Income Mix  Groups  White, non-Latino  Black, non-Latino  Hispanic  Other  0 24  25 44  45 +  <$35,000  $35,000 - $74,999  $75,000 +  6-County Benchmark  White: 57%  Black: 19%  Hispanic: 17%  Other: 6%  0 24: 36%  25 44: 32%  45 +: 32%  <$35,000: 33%  $35,000-$74,999: 36%  $75,000 +: 31% MCICs methodology rewards tracts that reflect the diversity of the six-county region with higher scores, based on our belief that mixed-income communities that are racially integrated and multi-generational have the highest potential to participate fully in the vitality of our increasingly connected and diverse world. The approach highlights tolerance of differences as a community strength. The Civic Engagement Sub-index reflects the percentage of registered voters who voted in the November 2002 election. The data were downloaded or requested from each countys Board of Elections and the Chicago Board of Elections by precinct. (Precincts are small election districts covered by one polling place.) We mapped the precincts to the tracts, assigning registered voters from each precinct to the tracts that contain them, and allocating those precincts that fall in more than one tract according to the land area contained in each tract. Changes in precinct boundaries in Chicago made it necessary to use ward level voting data in Chicago. In Will, Kane and McHenry Counties precincts created after the 2000 elections did not match our geographic data and were not included in the analysis. Though the percent population age 18+ registered to vote in the November 2002 election would have been an important indicator, we were unable to include it with the necessary level of accuracy due to the lack of digital geographic boundary files for the precincts used in the 2002 election.

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Economic Potential Component Four sub-indices in the Economic Potential component capture important features considered in community development work. The sub-indices illustrate community assets that could be leveraged for community change. Once again, CVI seeks to highlight potential strengths in traditionally overlooked communities. The Commercial Vitality Sub-index was designed to illustrate the health of businesses in each tract. Local businesses are an important resource for communities; in addition to offering goods and services they provide employment and a nucleus for further development. The Commercial Vitality sub-index includes: The number of businesses per square mile and the aggregate amount of small business loans per capita. The number of businesses per square mile was calculated from a commercial listing of all businesses with telephones in 2002. The aggregate amount of small business loans (less than $1million) per capita was calculated from the 1999 Community Reinvestment Act data reported by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. The Buying Power Sub-index captures two descriptors of the economic resources that may be available in a community: Aggregate income - The aggregate income measure comes from the 2000 U.S. Census and represents the total income for all people in the tract divided by the area of the tract. This measure rewards high-density development, highlighting the potential of some urban neighborhoods where per capita income may not be as high as in many suburban areas, but the total level of resources (buying power) may be higher. Shelter cost burden - ranks tracts (inversely) by the percent of households spending 30% or more of their monthly income on rent or mortgage payments as reported in the 2000 U.S. Census. Since shelter cost burden affects discretionary income and therefore buying power, we reward low shelter cost burden tracts with the highest scores. The Neighborhood Confidence and Investment Sub-index contains three indicators that measure investment and potential investment in homes in the community. These measures are: Number of mortgages originated per occupied dwelling unit Number of home improvement loans originated per occupied dwelling unit, Percent of occupied dwelling units. The mortgage and home improvement loan data come from the 1999 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data compiled by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) and the percent occupied dwelling units comes from the 2000 U.S. Census. The selected indicators reward communities with high levels of owner occupancy and investment, a strong indicator of perceived vitality of a community. The Workforce Potential Sub-index includes three complementary measures of the strength and potential of the labor force in the tract. A strong labor force is essential to the overall well-being of a community. The indicators selected are: Educational attainment Number of wage earners age 16 - 64 per square mile, and Percentage of the labor force that is employed. Educational attainment, the percent of people age 25 and above who have some college education or more, is a measure of the potential of local residents to participate in the skilled sector of the labor market. The number of wage earners is the number of employed civilians age 16-64 reported in the 2000 U.S. Census per square mile. This measures the density of the labor force and rewards areas with high concentrations of employed people. The percentage of the labor force employed also comes from the 2000 U.S. Census. This measure favors areas with high employment rates. Census data were used for the Workforce Potential indicators because they meet the need to have data at tract level while Illinois Department of Employment Statistics data are not available at tract level.

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Community Amenities Component Studies of the impacts of the arts have demonstrated the strong role of arts, culture and community institutions in providing nuclei for the growth of social capital and community development. The sub-indices in the Community Amenities component capture the different types of community amenities that can increase the vitality of their surrounding neighborhoods: Arts, cultural, and leisure facilities Restaurants and bars Health and human services agencies, and Community institutions. The methodology for calculating indicators in the community amenities component differed significantly from the method used for the other two categories because of the differences in the way these facilities contribute to community vitality. All the indicators are based on point data the location of actual facilities. Rather than simply counting all the facilities in each tract, a process that results in a number of tracts not showing any community amenities, we created buffers of varying sizes around each point. Each indicator was calculated by counting the number of buffers that included the center point of each tract and dividing by the population density of the tract. The buffer radii varied between one and three miles, representing an area we believe each type of amenity might typically serve. These distances may be an overestimate for many facilities in the city of Chicago and an underestimate for those in the collar counties, but they represent a good compromise. The Arts, Culture and Leisure Sub-index contains arts, culture, leisure and entertainment facilities from a commercial database of businesses with telephones and from a database of non-profit arts and culture organizations. The indicator was calculated by counting how many of 3-mile buffers drawn around each point included the center of each tract and dividing that count by the population density. Tracts with the highest number received the highest percentile scores. The Restaurants Sub-index contains eating and drinking establishments from a commercial database of businesses with telephones. The indicator was calculated by counting how many of 1-mile buffers drawn around each point included the center of each tract and dividing that count by the population density. Tracts with the highest number received the highest percentile scores. One-mile buffers were chosen to reflect a belief that the community effects of restaurants are less geographically dispersed than arts and culture facilities or other community institutions. The Health and Human Services Sub-index contains health and human services facilities from the 2001 United Way Blue Book. The indicator was calculated by counting how many of 3-mile buffers drawn around each point included the center of each tract and dividing that county by the population density. Tracts with the highest number received the highest percentile scores. Three-mile buffers were chosen because health and human service agencies, which often focus on outreach and community development, draw from and impact relatively wide areas. The Community Institutions Sub-index combines three indicators libraries, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education. Each of these sets of points was buffered to a distance of two miles. Each indicator was calculated by counting how many of 2-mile buffers drawn around each point included the center of each tract and dividing that count by the population density. The highest percentile scores went to the highest resulting number. The sub-index is the average of the three indicators.