Newtown Data Story
Building on past successes to advocate for the future.
Community Leader Conversations
March – May 2021
Community Leaders provided important insights into life in Newtown that guided the design process.
Valerie Buchand: Newtown Nation President
Joseph Mack: Newtown Community Health Action Team (CHAT) Chair and Amaryllis Park Neighborhood Association (APNA) Treasurer
Barbara Powell: Orange Blossom Garden and Central Cocoanut Neighborhood Association
Shatrevia Spikes: Deliverance Miracle Revival Center (DMRC) Church
newtown Community ambassadors
Bridging Newtown to MHI and New College of Florida
Ambassadors have lived in Newtown or have worked in an organization that serves Newtown of Sarasota, Florida for years. These Ambassadors are an essential bridge between The Multicultural Health Institute (MHI) and Newtown residents and are central to the equitable data-sharing design process developed under the academic supervision of New College of Florida (NCF) faculty, epidemiologist Dr. Kristopher Fennie, PhD. Each Ambassador was approved by the NCF Institutional Review Board (IRB) upon completion of Human Subjects Research Training certification as part of ensuring that the study be conducted under basic ethical principles (i.e., respect for persons, beneficence, and justice).
Shatrevia Spikes
Newtown Resident
MHI-Newtown Community Ambassador
Shatrevia Spikes has resided in Newtown for 22 years, worked for nonprofits for ten and is a member of Deliverance Miracle Revival Center (DMRC) Church. She has raised two children and has worked in the medical field for 19 years, serving in administrative and clinical roles. She recently managed the 2021 STEAMH camp for The Multicultural Health Institute. She also mentored Newtown youth in the Ecological YouthBuild which received the “Keep Sarasota Beautiful” Award in 2003/2004.
Joseph Mack
Newtown Community Health Action Team (CHAT)
MHI-Newtown Community Ambassador
Joseph Mack has been a participant in the Community Health Action Team (CHAT) for 8 years, and began serving as Chair of the Newtown CHAT 3 years ago. He has been an active member of in the Amaryllis Park Neighborhood Association for 5 years, and joined the Board for 2 years. He is a native born Sarasotan, and his mother was in the Senior Class of students that was integrated in Sarasota.
Barbara Powell
Central Cocoanut Neighborhood Association
MHI-Newtown Community Ambassador
Barbara Powell-Harris has lived in Sarasota for 34 years, and has been involved in community gardens since 1994. She was a founding member of The Rosemary Garden that preceded the current Orange Blossom Community Garden. One of her favorite ways to describe a community garden is that it grows a lot more than food. It grows community.
MHI and its community partners worked together to create the data story. Community Leaders graciously agreed to be interviewed, community groups helped to co-design the survey used, by reviewing and providing feedback on the consent process and survey content. Many organizations stepped up to help with survey outreach, by passing out flyers about the effort, connecting people with the MHI office and hosting survey completion at their events.
Explore the Story Map below to learn about the Newtown partners who collaborated to make this Data Story available to the community.
Listening Session 1
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
A Listening Session was held with the Community Health Action Team (CHAT)
Community Health Action Teams (CHATs) are community-led groups working in coordination with the Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) within the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County (DOH-Sarasota) to improve the health of Sarasota County residents. Ashley Spangler, MPH, leads the CHIP/CHAT
Joseph Mack, Newtown CHAT Chair, in consultation with CHIP coordinator Ashley Spangler, MPH, arranged for the agenda to include a discussion on the “Community Self-Portrait in Data” project; both the draft Consent Statement and the draft Community Voice Questionnaire were shared with attendees in advance of the meeting. A project slide presentation with links to the draft documents was presented at the meeting.
The drafts of the Consent Statement and Community Voice Questionnaire were reviewed on a full CHAT Agenda that included a report by Kevin Siff from City of Sarasota Homelessness Response. Important comments regarding question clarification and a suggested added question were made. Minutes were prepared by Ashley Spangler.
Listening Session 2
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
A Listening Session was held with
Newtown Nation
Newtown Nation is a community-based organization (CBO). Its focus is to help make Newtown a productive place to live, and to enhance the overall quality of life for the community. Newtown Nation believes that change begins with a conversation.
Valerie Buchand, Newtown Nation President, arranged for the inclusion of the draft Consent Statement and draft Community Voice Questionnaire on the agenda of this regularly scheduled meeting; a copy of each was provided to Newtown Nation in advance of the meeting. There was a full agenda with Housing: Tenants Rights (Ms. Rachel Johnson, “Faces of HUD Housing Unity” project spoke about tenants’ rights), Noise pollution in the community, and opposition to a proposed Lynching Memorial in the community. A Community Self-Portrait in Data project slide presentation with links to the revised version of the survey was presented at the meeting. Discussion followed.
Social Determinants of Health Mentioned by Community Leaders
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
The Social Determinants of Health that were included in the survey and in this Data Story were identified in conversation with community leaders and in Listening Sessions in the community. You can navigate to the pages about these Social Determinants of health by clicking on the pictures below or by using the navigation links in the upper left corner of the page.
Housing
Food
Economic Stability
Neighborhood
Health Care
Demographics
General Comments About Newtown Made by Survey Respondents who Live, Work or Worship in the Community
Need more rooming houses, affordable housing, more food give aways, and public restrooms (Worships in D)
Newtown needs to bring its stuff together for the young folks; our work is lost if we don’t do this. (Lives in A)
What think about Newtown: It depends on which part of Newtown you live, if it’s a good place to live. (Lives in North Sarasota, works in A)
Newtown is a safe place to be; as long as you know the people, it will not be a problem. (Lives in E)
Newtown is a loving place. (Lives and worships in North Sarasota)
Newtown gets a bad rap sometimes policemen will shoot first and ask questions after. They are afraid how we look and afraid of us. A lot of good and famous people have come out of Newtown. We are not treated fair!!! (Worship and Work in B)
Black people need to be taught the law. (Lives in E, worships in B)
Newtown is my home. Fond childhood memories. Newtown is where I go for worship service and friendship. I’m a third generation Newtonian; my family came in 1927. (Worships in B)
I’ll go wherever life takes me (Lives in E)
Note: grandkids live with them and full time responsible (Lives in A, worships in D)
It is home but also a burden (Lives in North Sarasota, worships and works in A)
I love my community, just a few bad apples need to be removed (Lives in B, worships in E)
Newtown is the best at making great things change (Lives, worships, and works in North Sarasota)
Overshadowed by outsiders bringing in problems. They take resources from the community. (Lives and worships in B, works in A)
I feel protection in the community (Lives in North Sarasota)
Different culture but very proud of neighborhood (Worships in C)
Newtown is a Black community (Worships in C)
Describe Newtown as a Black community (Worships in C)
Newtown is a nice place to live. People are disjointed and community needs to come together. (Lives and works in North Sarasota)
Great place to live if you know the people (Lives in B and worships in C)
It’s a nice place to live. I would like to live on land (farmland) but there is none in Newtown. (Lives in B, worships in C, works in E)
Community Presentations
Community Presentation: From Results to Advocacy
Aug 19 Thu 5:30-7pm
Community Workshop Preparing for Advocacy
Hosted by The Multicultural Health Institute
Videos Below:
Introduction (4:42)
Housing (8:58)
Food (12:49)
Neighborhood & Physical Environment
Social Service Providers advocacy Presentation
Aug 23 Mon 3-5pm
Advocacy to Service Providers
Hosted by The Glasser/ Schoenbaum Human Services Center
Videos Below:
Unite US Presentation
Unite US Presentation with Social Service Provider Comments
Decision-Maker Awareness Presentation
Aug 25 Wed 10:30-noon
Advocacy to Policy/Decision-Makers
Hosted by The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center
Videos Below:
Study Design & Results (4:45)
Healthcare (9:19)
Community Recap of The Equitable Survey Process
Sep 2 Thu 5:30-7pm
Share Feedback with Community Members
Hosted by The Multicultural Health Institute
Videos Below:
Raising Community Voices Discussing Potential Solutions
Photo Attributions
Fresh Fruit: Miomir Magdevski, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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