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| Percept Smart Variables: |
| The RISC Score |
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States of Stress |
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| According to the Census Bureau's recent poverty report, about 1.3
million more people were poor in 2001 than in 2000. Nearly half a million more families
sunk below the poverty threshold: $18,104 annual income for a family of four and $14,128
for a family of three. (This followed a record low in 2000). |
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| Percept combines poverty level
with other "stress conditions" to assess what it calls a RISC* score for a given
area, ranging from 0 to 10 (10 being Critically High—see scoring below). These other
stress conditions are high school dropout rate, households with a single
mother, and unusually high concern about issues such as community
problems, family problems, and/or basic necessities (food, housing
and jobs). In larger areas such as states RISC scores tend to average out across a diverse
population. Yet it is important to note that states with low scores will have high-risk
communities within them and, conversely, states with high RISC scores will contain
communities characterized as low-risk. |
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| HIGHS AND LOWS Assessing the 50 states by these listed
stress conditions, the land of Delta Blues (Mississippi and Louisiana) scores
highest, while the land of the Rocky Mountain High (Colorado) owns the sole
distinction of a "very low" RISC score. See the map below for the remaining
forty-seven states. . . |
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| RISC (Regionally Indexed Stress Conditions) Scoring is as
follows: 10 is critically high; 8-9 is very high; 6-7 is
somewhat high; 5 is average; 3-4 is somewhat low; 1-2 is very low; and, 0 is extremely
low. |
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NOTE TO LINK2LEAD MEMBERS*
Find the RISC Score for your ZIP Code area in FirstView™,
available to you at no charge, by clicking here. |
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Percept's Regionally Indexed Stress Conditions
Source: Percept; U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 |
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| RISC Score by State |
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PLACES
WITH HIGHEST
RISC SCORE (9 or 10) AND
POPULATION OVER 400,000 |
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PLACE |
ST |
POPULATION |
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Mississippi State |
MS |
2,865,946 |
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KingsCounty |
NY |
2,480,366 |
| 3 |
Bronx County |
NY |
1,342,483 |
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Baltimore County |
MD |
646,034 |
| 5 |
Orleans Parish |
LA |
484.210 |
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PLACES
WITH LOWEST
RISC SCORE (0 or 1) AND
POPULATION OVER 900,000 |
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PLACE |
ST |
POPULATION |
| 1 |
Suffolk County |
NY |
1,431,351 |
| 2 |
Nassau County |
NY |
1,340,054 |
| 3 |
Oakland County |
MI |
1,202,894 |
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Fairfax County |
VA |
981,537 |
| 5 |
Du Page County |
IL |
913,359 |
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Ministry Ideas |
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Download a FirstView report for your ZIP code area. Review
the community stress level and contributing factors on Page 5 of the report and consider
what your church might do to address some of the needs that you see. . . |
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Read Churches that Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News
and Good Works (Sider, Olson, Unruh; Baker Book House, 2002). This is a great resource
for developing a "holistic ministry", one that pursues the spiritual and
physical needs of the community. Even if you don't embrace the complete vision of the
authors, the book will give you and your congregation many useful ideas for outreach in
stressed communities. |
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Go to MinistryMatch on this website by clicking here,
or select the My Congregation tab at the top of the page and then select MinistryMatch on
the left menu of that section. Take a minute to fill in the form with your existing
ministries/programs and see how they match community preferences. Then, consider
developing ministries that are indicated with high community preference. |
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There may be ways you can help immediately. Talk to community leaders
already involved in social services. Literacy programs, meals programs, after-school child
care for single mothers. . . the list of needs may be long. |
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In areas of high RISC score, suicides may be one severe byproduct. Consider
working with suicide prevention organizations or perhaps starting one as a church. See the
Survivors of Suicide ministry featured in last month's QuikStory (Vol. 1, No. 6) about St. Thomas Church in
Campbellsville, KY. |
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© COPYRIGHT 2008 PERCEPT GROUP, INC. |
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