COMMUNITY PORTRAITS

CRITERION #2

ASSIGNMENT #2B

DUE IN SESSION #3

Write a narrative community portrait (about 2 typed pages) describing your community in 1990, as revealed by the Census data you have collected and tabulated for your community for Assignment #2A. This assignment should only be done after you have completed Assignment #2A, and the instructor has reviewed the numbers and percents for accuracy.

This paper must have an introduction, main body and conclusion. It must be written in complete sentences and paragraphs. It must be typed using word-processing software. Be sure to proofread for typos.

Your introduction should begin with identification of the community and its location (use what you did for Assignment #1). You should then give the reader a brief overview of the purpose and organization of the paper.

The main body of your paper should consist of one or two paragraphs for each of the major categories of Census information that you have about Population, Housing and Economic Characteristics, summarizing and interpreting the 1990 data on each aspect of the community. It is appropriate to include some numbers within many of the sentences, but you need to go beyond just repeating numbers; you need to interpret what the numbers reveal about the kind of place the community was in 1990.

Your conclusion should briefly sum up your overall impressions about the community, based on the data and what you have written in the main body of the paper. The conclusion should not have any numbers in it.

The easiest way to do the assignment is to write out answers to questions such as the following (you are welcome to add others), in complete sentences. After you have written out all of your answers, organize the sentences into paragraphs as the main body of the paper, and then edit what you have written so that it flows smoothly and logically. When you have polished the main body, then write the intro and conclusion.

Population

1. Was this a community with a large proportion of pre-school children or school-aged children? Was it a community with a large proportion of young adults or middle-aged adults or elderly?

2. Did the community have many more women than men, many more men than women, or fairly even balance?

3. Was the community predominantly made up of people of one racial/ethnic group (80-90% or more), or was the community quite diverse?

4. What was mix of types of families in 1990? Were non-family households a significant share of all households?

Housing

1. Was the housing in the community mostly owner-occupied, mostly renter-occupied, or fairly even? Was there much vacant housing in the community?

2. Which type of residential buildings were most prevalent in the community -- 1-family houses, 2-4 unit houses, or larger apartment buildings?

4. Did rents and property values seem to be very low or very high in 1990? What do you think the rents and values meant for who could afford to live in the community at that time?

Economic

1. What was the unemployment rate (% unemployed) in 1990? Does this seem low or high?

2. What were the two largest categories of occupations in 1990? Do these tend to be relatively low paying or high paying occupations?

3. What was the median household income in 1990? Does this seem relatively low or high?

4. Was there much poverty in the community in 1990?

Conclusion

Overall, what sort of community was this 1990?