As Austin grows, many neighborhoods are becoming more predominantly headed by single professionals or other household structures – but Dove Springs remains a place for families. Unfortunately, our friends and neighbors struggle with unemployment and health care challenges, and are still recovering from last year’s flooding. Dove Springs is a younger community with many families and a growing Hispanic/Latino population The Dove Springs community has very strong Hispanic and Latino roots. The neighborhood has largely been settled by the Hispanic and Latino population for more than a decade and currently 4 out of 5 residents claim that ethnicity. Unlike other neighborhoods that have more seniors, students or young professionals without children, Dove Springs is full of families – which are define by the US census as a household with two or more people related by birth, marriage or adoption. A lower percentage of family households in Dove Springs are married-couple families (59 percent vs. 68 percent in Austin overall) and a higher percentage are headed by single fathers (13 percent vs. 9 percent) or single mothers (29 percent vs. 22 percent), similar to the St. John’s and Manor communities. People who live in Dove Springs are also typically younger than other City of Austin residents with a full third of residents being under the age of 18. Many Dove Springs residents are struggling with unemployment Over the last couple of years, the unemployment rate for Dove Springs has been higher than the unemployment rate in the City of Austin: Dove Springs residents […]
Read MoreAustin’s growth in focus: the Manor community
As Austin continues to grow, certain corners of our city are seeing huge influxes – and the Manor community is one of them. Since the turn of the millennium, the population in Manor has tripled. Manor residents are increasingly young and non-white From 2000 to 2012 Manor saw particularly strong growth in its Hispanic and African-American populations, especially compared with the city as a whole. Moreover, more than a third of Manor residents are under the age of 18 – a 30 percent growth from 2000 to 2012. Much like in St. John’s, many of these residents are low-income. Manor residents are reaching out for help 13 percent more times this year than last Manor is one of many suburban zip codes in Travis County that has increasingly been reaching out for help to our Navigation Center. [Tweet “Calls for help to @uwatx from Manor in 2014 are up 13 percent over the first six months of 2013.”] The changing populations are reflected in the types of calls that we receive: callers from Manor are more likely to report health needs or needs related to children than the average 2-1-1 caller. The types of needs being reported to 2-1-1 from the Manor community make sense when considering that the population of economically disadvantaged children at Manor high school alone has tripled along with the population. Manor residents own their homes and are employed, but services are lacking and housing costs are a burden Overall, our […]
Read MoreHidden in plain sight: the unique St. John’s neighborhood
Over the last decade in Austin, the population has been rapidly growing, jobs have been plentiful and organic, fresh food has seen a boom. But that story isn’t the same across all of Austin’s neighborhoods. In the St. John’s neighborhood, the population has decreased by 5 percent since 2000 – a phenomenon that, although surprising, is actually not unique as people increasingly settle in the suburban and rural areas of our region. Yet although the population is smaller, the face of the community has changed somewhat significantly. An extremely high (and growing) percentage of St. Johns residents are Hispanic: [cta][/cta] Unique from the City of Austin, the St. Johns community has seen growth in its Black and African American population. Blacks and African Americans now represent one out of every seven St. Johns residents. Across the City of Austin the Black and African American population has generally been declining in size, so this growth in St. Johns is particularly notable. The St. John’s area stood out from the rest of Austin in a few more ways: St. Johns has seen a slight decrease in the percentage of its population that is under the age of 18 (down to 22 percent in 2012 from 24% in 2000). This is likely related to the overall growth in population outside of the City as families with children are more likely to relocate to suburban and rural areas because of relative housing affordability. Families in the St. Johns area are less likely to be headed up by married couples […]
Read MoreFood needs increase, spread out in summer
Throughout the year, seasonal needs drive different types of calls to our Navigation Center, but summer is an especially difficult time for Austin residents. As utility bills increase and children are home for the summer, without the school-provided free or reduced lunch option, we see food needs rise – Food need calls by month in 2013: *SNAP calls not included in this chart to make it easier to see trends. Last year, 63 percent of calls for summer food programs were in June, creating the spike above. These programs provide free meals to children during the summer. Most of the needs for food year-round are related to SNAP/food stamp assistance followed by food pantries, and we see an increase for food pantry needs over the summer as well. The need for summer food programs is unusual in that it’s more spread out than others. Two of our top zip codes for summer food program needs last year were 78664 (Round Rock) and 78660 (Pflugerville), breaking the trend of need in general. Concentration of calls in Central Texas: Concentration of overall food needs in Central Texas: As food continues to dominate our top needs overall and food pantries make our list of unmet needs most months, summer is a critical period where many of our friends and neighbors struggle even more.
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