Process Description:
Input ACS data (geodatabase), urban designations (shapefile). Select by Location those census block groups not overlapping urban designated areas, add column designation of rural or urban to geodatabase table. Export ACS data to CSV tables. Calculate percentage of low-income population for census block groups using Excel, adding columns as necessary. This is a statewide metric. The formula for calculating the percentage of low-income individuals for a given census block group is: (C17002e2+C17002e3)/C17002e1*100 where C17002e1, C17002e2, and C17002e3 are the population numbers reported in the corresponding columns within the ACS data tables. C17002e1 is the total population of the census block group; C17002e2 and C17002e3 is the population with income less than half of the federal poverty threshold and less than, but more than half, of the federal poverty threshold, respectively. Calculate percentage of minority population for census block groups using Excel, adding columns as necessary. This metric is broken up according to rural/urban criteria. The formula for calculating the percentage of minority individuals for a given census block group is: (B03002e1-B03002e3)/B03002e1*100 where B03002e1 and B03002e3 are the population numbers reported in the corresponding columns within the ACS data tables. B03002e1 is the total population; B03002e3 is the population of non-Hispanic, White only individuals. Use IBM SPSS Statistics 26 to conduct K-means clustering algorithm on column entries corresponding to percentage of low-income individuals, minority populations (rural), and minority populations (urban). SPSS was instructed to return 2 groups for each analysis based upon CP-29 policy definitions. The value separating the 2 groups is used as an updated threshold value for designating whether or not a census block group is considered a PEJA according to the methodology as proposed by the Environmental Justice Advisory Group, January 2, 2002. The updated thresholds are: a. Low income: 22.82% of population b. Minority: 26.28% rural population or 52.42% urban population Add column designation of whether or not census block group exceeds low income and minority population thresholds (0 = no, 1 = yes) to geodatabase table. Add column designation of census block group PEJA status (yes or no) based on low income and minority population values. PEJA status can be used for further analyses.