The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced the expansion of the 500 Cities Project, a 2016 initiative to provide city- and neighborhood-level health estimates for a large portion of the nation’s population. The project is being renamed PLACES, and now provides Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates to the entire United States to show the prevalence of chronic diseases and the health impacts on underserved communities.
Many Americans face health-related challenges like chronic respiratory diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity that put them at increased risk for severe illness from diseases such as COVID-19. The critical information in PLACES can help local and state health departments and community organizations decide where best to target resources to address these health challenges. PLACES data can be used to:

• Inform target prevention activities, programs, and policies;
• Identify emerging health problems and priority health risk behaviors;
• Identify and understand geographic health-related issues;
• Establish key health goals; and
• Identify geographic disparities in health among and within communities to inform strategies that address health equity.

For more info on this topic from the CDC, please click here or go to: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p1209-places.html