LEARN ABOUT THE DIFFERENT FACETS OF THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION SYSTEM...

The system brings together five major databases:

Housing Inventory - UAB and Auburn conducted a parcel-by-parcel review, with pictures, of each housing unit and property and assessed its condition and significance. Along with this is an assessment of physical conditions  in the neighborhood (called a "broken windows" survey) that looks at the environment around each house. For a more complete description  of the factors the Housing Inventory examined and to see how that information is organized, click here.
 

Social Capital Survey - UAB, using neighborhood residents as interviewers, surveyed a sample  of residents about the day-to-day stresses that they faced and the social connections they had with family, friends and acquaintances in their neighborhood and the larger MSA. This survey included some items developed by Harvard University's Robert Putnam for a study of nearly forty communities across the country, including Birmingham. This information is reported by block groups and is only available in that form. No information about individuals  is published. For a more complete description of the factors the Social  Capital Survey examined and to see how that information is organized,  click here.
 

Census Data - The Bureau  of the Census makes available to the public information about neighborhoods  of people and housing conditions such as family status, income, race, occupation, rents and many other factors. Information about individuals  is not available from the census. Census information is reported for groups  of blocks, larger areas called "tracts" and political jurisdictions. For a more complete description of the factors described by Census Data  and to see how that information is organized, click here.
 

County Tax Data - The  Jefferson County Board of Equalization maintains a file on every property for the  purpose of determining property taxes. This information is available from public records. The Housing and Social Inventory contains data for the size, value and age of properties. For a more complete description of the factors the County Tax Data includes and to see how that information  is organized, click here.

Aerial Photograph - The Jefferson County aerial photograph provides contextual information such as roof shape and vegetation that help cue map users to the real features of the community

Study Dates and Data Set Ownership

The database combines multiple sources of information for the Woodlawn and South Woodlawn neighborhoods of Birmingham Alabama including: digital images of all housing, digital mapping, household surveys, census data, tax assessor data, and broken window syndrome assessments of blocks. Technically, it is a computer based geographic information system capable of relating all data, both publicly available, and that resulting from a Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham-funded research project, to specific block groups or geographic coordinates in these neighborhoods. It includes two significant public information sources: Jefferson County property tax records for approximately 2000 occupied and unoccupied housing units, and block level census data for the two inner city neighborhoods.  Primary research data is appended to the structure established by the geographical information system. These data include digital imagery, tabular and text data on housing units derived from a field survey of all units in the area; broken window assessments of each block in the area; and a random sample survey of household decision makers (n=220) that assesses various aspects of neighborhood identification, social capital, and individual and family well being.

Community Information System (CIS)
Click map above  to enter