Leadership West Louisville, Greater Louisville Project Partner to Share Results of City Study with Urban Advocates

(LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY) – The Leadership West Louisville Institute and the politicians who represent the area will partner with the Greater Louisville Project to share the results of the third biennial Competitive City Report at a noon inner city lunch forum on Wednesday, July 8.

For the first time since the study was released, the results will be shared with an audience in West Louisville to determine how the goal of becoming a top-tier city impacts Louisville’s most socioeconomically deprived areas.

“Many people say that a city is only as strong as its most challenged neighborhoods. If that’s true, West Louisville should be one of the major barometers used to gauge Louisville’s growth,” said DeVone Holt, executive director of the Leadership West Louisville Institute. “That’s why this forum to discuss the city’s progress as it relates to West Louisville is so important.”

To view the study, visit www.GreaterLouisvilleProject.com

The Competitive City Report is used as a tool to track community progress and measure the social and economic standing of Louisville Metro and its 13-County Metropolitan Statistical Area. The report showcases data and comparisons on a wide range of community indicators, including education and professional and technical jobs.

The newest data category included in this year’s study is “Quality of Place”, which details findings on a wide range of measures that impact West Louisville, including health, environment, crime, parkland, and alternative modes of transportation. Some of the comparisons to other cities produced striking results:

• Louisville scored best (measured lowest) among the 15 cities in the percent of adults who are obese, according to a nationally recognized survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control.

• It also scored lowest in the most recent data available on infant mortality, the number of babies who die before age 1 – another widely recognized indicator of quality of life

• It scored 5th among 15 cities on acres of parkland per 1,000 residents

• It was among the worst on per capita carbon emissions from transportation and residential use and on the number of days when air quality was good

• It maintained its usual strong standing on crime: 5th best in crime offense reports per 1,000

• And reflected a high percentage of households paying more than 30% of their income for housing, ranking the city second best

“While the recent economic downturn makes all of the data on jobs and housing difficult this year, the larger profile of where our community stood on the eve of the crisis remains pertinent,” said Carolyn Gatz, director of the Greater Louisville Project. “The economic crisis underscores the importance of meeting the fundamental challenges that confronted our community and others like it, across America, before it began.”

Since it was established last November, the Leadership West Louisville Institute has hosted monthly community lunch forums where authorities on urban issues provide expert opinions and strategies on how to effectively address economic development, education, health and social issues in the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.

“In order to substantively improve conditions in West Louisville, it is important that my political colleagues and I partner with groups like the Leadership West Louisville Institute and the Greater Louisville Project to better understand the realities that confront us,” said Metro Council President David Tandy. “Our next step will be to leverage the proper resources to improve upon areas where we are deficient.”

Other West Louisville representatives invited to participate in the forum include:

• Dr. Judith Green, Metro Councilwoman – District 1
• Councilwoman Cheri Bryant-Hamilton – District 5
• State Representative Reginald Meeks – District 42
• State Senator Gerald Neal – District 33
• State Representative Daryl Owen – District 43
• Councilman George Unseld – District 6
• Councilwoman Mary Woolridge – District 3

About the Leadership West Louisville Institute
The Leadership West Louisville Institute is a collection of non-profit organizations and businesses that have partnered to use their individual and collective resources to advance the social and economic conditions of Louisville’s most depressed neighborhoods and the people who reside in them.

Founded in 2008, LWL operates with a mission to (1) identify, (2) support, and (3) help implement strategies to improve West Louisville and its residents. The institute fulfills its mission by conducting community forums, commissioning research studies, writing position papers and activating its constituencies to execute agreed upon strategies.

LWL partners include: Canaan Community Development Corporation, Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition, the Louisville Defender newspaper, The Louisville Youth Philanthropy Council, Simmons College of Kentucky, St. Stephen Family Life Center and the Urban Insight Agency.

About The Greater Louisville Project
The Greater Louisville Project is an independent, non-partisan civic initiative organized by The Community Foundation of Louisville and supported by a consortium of philanthropic foundations that includes the Brown Foundation, Brown-Forman, The C. E. & S. Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, Gheens Foundation, and The Humana Foundation.

The University of Louisville Urban Studies Institute provided data and analysis for the report, as did researchers with the Jefferson County Public Schools, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the University of Louisville, the National Science Foundation, and the Human Capital Scorecard published by KentuckianaWorks.