$1M to tackle health inequity in St. Petersburg. Can it make a difference?
ST. PETERSBURG — Pinellas County residents were, on average, slightly healthier than most other counties in Florida and across the nation last year, a national study found.
But the data hides a grimmer truth for areas of St. Petersburg.
Black residents in neighborhoods south of downtown live 5 years fewer than the average Pinellas resident. They're twice as likely to experience struggles with transportation and access to food, data compiled by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete shows.
Their children are almost 40% more likely to die as infants.
Those are some of the inequalities that the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg hopes to address through a new partnership with Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital. The two organizations announced Wednesday they are making up to $1 million available in grants for initiatives aimed at reducing poverty and health disparities in three St. Petersburg zip codes.
The impetus for the grants came from a five-month long health equity analysis that combined data from several studies and also U.S. Census Bureau and state data to identify economic and health well being among different neighborhoods.
The findings were bleak.
Residents of some southern St. Petersburg communities had far higher rates of liver cancer and diabetes than the rest of the county. Almost 500 of every 100,000 residents has chronic heart disease compared to the countywide average of 262. The community also has higher rates of homicide and drug-related deaths.
'One thing that was really telling was chronic disease, not just the disparate rate at which people of color in those zip codes experience it, but the impact it has on their lives,' said Kanika Tomalin, foundation president and CEO. 'We want a situation where equity is the given, a community where good health allows all people to thrive.'
The funding is intended to draw nonprofits and other organizations. Their initial submissions should include details on how they will partner with local government, community groups, individuals and others to tackle issues in those communities.
Four grants of $250,000 each are scheduled to be awarded by Oct. 6. Among the issues the foundation wants to address are chronic disease, infant mortality and high rates of injury and violence. It wants groups to come up with proposals that will result in systemic changes.
'We have so much work to do,' said Tomalin, who is a former deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. 'We welcome anybody who wants to innovate do the hard work, wants philanthropy as a partner, and is looking to plug in and commit.'
The three zip codes highlighted by the health disparity study are 33705, which includes Bartlett Park, 33711, which includes the Child's Park neighborhood, and 33712, which reaches the Skyway District.
Other initiatives have also set out to tackle issues like poverty, food deserts and lack of employment opportunities in historically depressed neighborhoods of St. Petersburg.
The 2020 Plan, a 5-year effort to reduce poverty by 30% launched in 2014. It included initiatives to increase incomes through job training, to engage parents, especially fathers, and to strengthen families in the city's Midtown area.
Census data from 2020 showed St. Petersburg's rate of poverty among Black residents was 16.7%, the lowest on record. That's down from almost 35% in 2014.
Tomalin said parts of the plan such as St. Pete Works, a workforce development initiative, are still bringing benefits today and show that a collaboration of private and public groups can shift the needle when it comes to reducing generational poverty.
'In that time frame, poverty was reduced to a historic low, the lowest the city has ever seen,' Tomalin said. 'People are getting jobs every day, right now today because of it.'
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