Elmhurst/Corona, Queens: Key Facts from CCC’s Latest Community Based Assessment

Today, we are excited to release our new community needs assessment, “Elmhurst/Corona, Queens: Community Driven Solutions to Improve Child and Family Well-being.”

Over the last year, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) has gathered both quantitative
and qualitative data about Elmhurst/Corona, Queens, to provide community members, service providers, elected officials, and philanthropic organizations a comprehensive assessment of the needs of children and families in the area, as well as the resources available that support their well-being.

This assessment involved analyzing administrative data from a variety of government sources and speaking with over 250 community members through a participatory, community-based process. We invited feedback from community members throughout the project, and this report provides a comprehensive summary of our findings.

Download the full report here.

These efforts build on our experience maintaining one of the nation’s most comprehensive online municipal-level databases on child and family well-being,
data.cccnewyork.org, which illustrates community-level conditions across New York City.

Our report paints a portrait of a vibrant, working class community rich in cultural and ethnic diversity.

We report findings from our analysis of government administrative data and conversations with community members — parents, youth, and service providers — to illustrate both welcomed and worrisome trends.

We also report community-informed recommendations designed to address risk factors and draw attention to the supports and services that community members need.

Below are some of the key findings from administrative data. Early in the new year, we will publish another blog highlighting some of what we learned speaking directly to community members.

Elmhurst/Corona is a community of immigrants, with the highest share of foreign-born residents in the city. More than half the population in the district is Latinx and roughly a third is Asian.

Despite working long hours and in many cases multiple jobs, parents face significant challenges making ends meet.

While rates of employment and labor force participation are high, many workers are in lower-wage industries where incomes may not be enough to support a family.

Workers from Elmhurst/Corona are over-represented in hospitality and construction jobs while under-represented in high-paying and social service jobs.

Compared to the borough of Queens, home ownership is much less common in Elmhurst/Corona, with less than a quarter of residents being homeowners. Yet whether they are homeowners or tenants, residents in Elmhurst/Corona feel strongly that housing affordability is an issue.

Residents in the community were less likely to agree than residents in Queens or citywide that their housing is affordable and more likely to agree that housing is too expensive given condition and location, according to data from the 2017 Housing and Vacancy Survey.

Residents concerns about affordability are well-grounded based on the data.

Median monthly rent, much like elsewhere in New York City, has continued to climb. However, median rent is higher in Elmhurst/Corona than in NYC in general.

Distribution of Monthly Rent in Elmhurst/Corona Compared to Queens & NYC

While health care trends are generally positive — with high rates of child health care coverage, positive maternal and infant health outcomes and adult life expectancy rates — community members and service providers emphasized the barriers that many adults face in accessing needed health services due to immigration status, concerns around costs, and the fear of sharing personal information.

Access to health insurance — particularly through publicly funded programs — can be significantly harder for non-citizens.

The uninsured rate in Elmhurst/Corona is much higher among non-citizens with 1-in-3 lacking coverage.

Insurance Coverage by Citizenship in Elmhurst/Corona

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In the domain of early care and education, demand for child care vastly outstrips supply, particularly for very young children.

Parents experience difficulty navigating the child care enrollment process and finding services to accommodate non-traditional work schedules or participation in workforce development and English classes.

While educational outcomes are improving, graduation rates still lag behind the citywide benchmark and the teen birth rate remains higher than the citywide average.

We hope our community-based assessment provides community members, service providers, elected officials, and philanthropic organizations the evidence needed to build on the strengths of local efforts underway and address the new needs of children and families in the area.

These findings, and the community driven solutions that we heard from community members along the way, will also support CCC’s policy advocacy citywide to ensure every child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe.