Community Participation Report

Report on Community Meetings on Obesity Prevention and Nutrition Centro Bienestar: Community Wellness for the West Side

How does EFN plan to use this information in the community?
Edgewood Family Network will take all this information into consideration in its creation of the wellness center. The wellness center will be a safe, welcoming and affordable place where families can concentrate on wellness through fitness, nutrition, healthy cooking, counseling and acceptance. It will be a place where everyone is so valuable that we concentrate on taking care of ourselves to live a healthy life by preventing obesity and the chronic illnesses of which obesity plays a role. EFN will be a place in our own community that shares information about the effects of chronic illnesses and how we can prevent them and break the cycle of an unhealthy community.

The information gathered in the platicas is a reflection of the EFN Strategic Plan’s intermediate agenda. The next step is to begin to develop the principal EFN program to address these concerns, the Centro Bienestar. This process addresses EFN’s second strategic direction. The Centro will make it possible to meet the third and fourth strategic directions, “supporting individual positive change in life styles and promoting responsibility,” and “bringing about positive change in public policy.” The platicas have provided powerful confirmation of EFN’s connection to and shared vision with the community it serves.

This is particularly important given that the nutrition education and exercise programs that have been offered in the past are just a sample of programs envisioned for the comprehensive health center. With the confirmation that the community’s needs and concerns are consistent with the plan that EFN has developed, the long-term goals of the organization can be pursued with the confidence and engagement that such an ambitious project will require.

It is important to mention that some of the responses provided by the participants may reflect incomplete information and misconceptions about nutrition. Nutrition and cooking education classes will address these topics. A few examples include:

• Turkey is lower in fat than beef, but ground turkey may have as much fat as lean ground beef but typically costs more.
• “Eat more wheat” doesn’t provide enough information. Most of us eat plenty of wheat. Increasing the amount of whole wheat (pan integral) would be healthier.

Community Assessment for the Misión Evangélica Luterana Area ZIP Code 78227

Executive Summary

Misión Evangélica Luterana is a complex located at 8138 Westshire, San Antonio, Texas 78227, in the Lackland Terrace addition. The complex is the former home of the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church and School. In the 1980s, the congregation relocated, leaving the buildings and extensive property vacant. In addition to a church, the complex includes buildings that housed a licensed day care, a pre-school, and an elementary school. The complex is owned by the Texas District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in Austin. In December 2005, in the interest of contributing to the surrounding community, a partnership was initiated between the Texas District (represented by Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church), the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC), and Pastor Julio Flamenco, a rostered missionary who was assigned to the facility in 2004 by the Texas District. The purpose of the partnership was to establish a community outreach mission without respect to religious affiliation or required attendance.

The initial stage of development of the project is guided by an Advisory Board consisting of the representatives of the partnership, residents, and selected personnel to provide administrative and consultative services. The goal of the partnership is to reach out to the residents of the area (ZIP Codes 78227 and 78228) to “revitalize the neighborhood…one family at a time.” This community assessment and strategic planning effort involves the residents of ZIP Code 78227. The first step engages area residents to work with the partnership to develop the complex as a resource for individuals and families who live in the area and will eventually oversee the operations of the community center. The community assessment and the revitalization project are supported by a mini-grant provided by the 2006 Bexar County Community Health Collaborative.

Residents of the area
Located in west San Antonio, in the vicinity of Loop 410, Marbach Road, and U.S. Highway 90, ZIP Code 78227 has a population of 40,477, of which 63% are Hispanic, 26% are non-Hispanic White, and 8% are Black. In addition, the median family income is $30,222 and fifty percent of the population is under 25 years of age.

Community concerns identified by the assessment
In keeping with the relative youth of the population, the highest priority community concerns mentioned by the residents related to the needs of young children and their families. They identified the following as the most important needs for the community:

• Youth development programs
• Recreation and education programs for youth
• After-school care programs with transportation
• “Jobs” for 14-year olds
• Confidential counseling for teens
• Child care that stays open past 5:30 p.m. for school-age children

Most of the respondents and participants in the strategic planning process were consistent with the traditional view that government must provide the programs and resources to meet identified community needs. However, the idea of a “resident-owned” program built by residents for residents elicited a positive response from a significant number of participants in the assessment process. Generally, the participants indicated a willingness to volunteer their personal efforts to meeting the needs of the community and were amenable to the development of an asset-based community center for the area.

The Misión Evangélica Luterana Project

The mission is to revitalize the Misión Evangélica Luterana neighborhood . . . one family at a time . . . by accomplishing the following goals:

• Establishing a formal strategic planning process to address short- and long-term health concerns of the community;
• Promoting community social infrastructure through resident-centered and resident-led development of a resource center for education, health, and fellowship without respect to religious preference;
• Establishing a Community and Parent Resource Learning Center to strengthen community-based resources for young mothers, youth, women, and families within the community in partnership with Edgewood Family Network;
• Establishing a community wellness program that focuses on positive health behaviors;
• Investigating the opportunity to establish the Misión Evangélica Luterana project as a 501(c)(3); and,
• Establishing an evaluation process to assess further program development needs.

Description of the population living in the Misión Evangélica Luterana planning area:
The Census of 2000 recorded 40,477 residents in ZIP Code 78227. Population estimates for 2005 prepared by the Planning Department of the City of San Antonio project a population of 43,548 with no immigration and 45,725 with an immigration rate of 0.05. The racial/ethnic distribution is 26% Non-Hispanic White, 63% Hispanic, and 8% Black. The median family income in ZIP Code 78227 is $30,222. This is 69% of the Bexar County median family income ($43,724), but median family income varies significantly in different parts of ZIP Code 78227. Census Tract 1717 (the area north of Marbach Road) has a median family income of $33,427 while Census Tracts 1718.01 and 1718.02, which are closest to Misión Evangélica Luterana, have median incomes of $28,470 and $25,223, respectively.

The population of the area is fairly young: 50.4% of the population is under 25 years of age. A total of 913 births were recorded in ZIP Code 78227 in 2005, of which 65% were Medicaid funded. In 2005 there were 465 births to single mothers (51%). Seventy-nine (8.7%) births were to mothers under 18 years of age, and 252 (28%) were to mothers between 18 and 21 years of age.

There is a high rate of child abuse and juvenile offense in the area. In 2005 there were 199 confirmed cases of child abuse. In the same year, 540 juveniles were recorded as being on probation.