In this step of gathering information you will collect facts and figures from the US Census Bureau and from local, state, and national health agencies. This data will tell a story about the health status of your community. Use the worksheets and summary sheets in this section to pull together and analyze data on your community.
Population Profile
- Population Profile Worksheets can help you sort through all the data available from the US Census Bureau about your community. Population data can tell you if your community is at a higher risk of poor health because of its economic status, racial composition, education level, or some other demographic factor. Population data is important to identifying health needs and in planning community-based nutrition and physical activity programs and services.
- Population Profile Summary Sheet includes some questions to help you analyze your population data, and it encourages you to record on one page the population data highlights.
Health Profile
- Health Profile Worksheets you will consider data on the community’s diseases, deaths, and health disparities. Most of this data will be available through the local or state health agency.
- Health Profile Summary Sheet includes some questions to help you analyze your health status data, and it encourages you to record on one page the health data highlights.
Nutrition and Physical Activity Profile
- Nutrition & Physical Activity Profile Worksheets are organized into life-stage categories. And within those categories you are encouraged to gather data on nutrition-related and physical activity-related diseases, health behaviors, and other health measures. There are six categories in the Nutrition & Physical Activity Profile Worksheets:
- Preconceptional Women and Adolescents,
- Pregnant Women and Adolescents,
- Infants and Preschool Children,
- School-age Children,Adolescents, and
- Adults and Older Adults.
- Nutrition & Physical Activity Profile Summary Sheet includes some questions to help you analyze your nutrition and physical activity data, and it encourages you to record on one page the nutrition and physical activity data highlights.
Additional Community Data Worksheets
- Race and Ethnicity Overview discusses why race and ethnicity data are relevant to people planning nutrition and physical activity programs. It also helps you understand the race and ethnicity numbers from the census data, and it includes suggested actions if your community includes racial and ethnic minority groups.
- The Data Resources piece lists government agencies involved with food and health data, describes the surveys you will use in the Nutrition & Physical Activity Profile Worksheets, and lists some of the interactive databases that can generate state and local data for you.
- No Data Tip Sheet includes suggestions on what to do if you don’t have local-level community data.
- Community Data Summary Sheet is provided for you to list, in one place, all the health concerns you identified considering only community data. You should not be prioritizing concerns at this point.