JOPLIN, Mo. – The City of Joplin just received their 2020 Community Report Card, with mostly low rankings.
The report was done by One Joplin, a private non-profit that describes themselves as the glue bringing together nonprofits, businesses, and government entities to solve community issues. Ashley Micklethwaite, executive director of One Joplin says the information on the report comes from data mining through local and national public information sources like the census, department of health and CDC.
This data was then used to display areas where Joplin needs improvements. Each category was ranked using a traffic light system.
“Think about it like a stop light,” said Micklethwaite. “So if it’s red we need to stop, we need to be looking in both directions. If it’s yellow, which is a caution, it could be improving or it could be declining. And then green is ‘hey, we are on track.’”
The categories ranged anywhere from health to income to education, where Joplin received mostly red and yellow lights. The biggest issue Joplin is currently facing, is housing
“Housing; safe, affordable housing,” said Micklethwaite. “The difference in rent and the burden of income to rent versus income to mortgage is substantial in Joplin.”
She says to combat this issue, the city needs more social services.
“For example, the economic security corporation just finished building and opening up the bungalows. It’s that type of work and housing that we need in Joplin.”
Debbie Markman, resource development director at the Economic Security Corporation in Joplin says the city needs to take action.
“It would be great if we could get wages up,” said Markman. “So that folks could then afford their housing themselves, and not have to rely on other entities to fill the gap.”
Markman adds that bringing up lower income neighborhoods will contribute to Joplin’s health overall.
Joplin city officials declined to comment about the city’s report card.
To see the full report card visit onejoplin.com/dashboard
