"Neighborhood Financial Health (NFH) Digital Mapping and Data Tool provides neighborhood financial health indicator data for every neighborhood in New York City. DCWP's Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) also developed NFH Indexes to present patterns in the data within and across neighborhoods. NFH Index scores describe relative differences between neighborhoods across the same indicators; they do not evaluate neighborhoods against fixed standards. OFE intends for the NFH Indexes to provide an easy reference tool for comparing neighborhoods, and to establish patterns in the relationship of NFH indicators to economic and demographic factors, such as race and income. Understanding these connections is potentially useful for uncovering systems that perpetuate the racial wealth gap, an issue with direct implications for OFE’s mission to expand asset building opportunities for New Yorkers with low and moderate incomes. This data tool was borne out of the Collaborative for Neighborhood Financial Health, a community-led initiative designed to better understand how neighborhoods influence the financial health of their residents.
(UNCLASSIFIED) There are three main ethnolinguistic groups that made up ethnicity in Liberia; Mel, Mande, and Kru. The ethnic mix of Liberia has contributed to a rich culture as well as ethnic tension. It is common for politics in West Africa to divide along ethnic lines. Ethnic tension along with poor economic and social conditions and political instability were the leading causes for the two recent civil wars in the country. This first began in 1989 when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor, rose up against the Kran dominant government lead by Samuel Doe. The first civil war ended in 1997 with Charles Taylor formally voted into power. During the civil war Taylor commonly targeted Muslim Mande populations and the Kran for being the two groups most associated with the Doe regime. The opposition to Taylor retaliated by attacking Christian sites. Taylor’s regime was chaotic which led to a second civil war that began in 1999 with full scale war in 2003; a cease fire was signed the same year which ended the civil war. The actions during both civil wars show how politics and ethnicity go hand in hand and can produce ethnoreligious violence. Many in Liberia participate in secret societies known as hale, this is the most controlling and unifying force in Liberian culture with most participants belonging to one or more societies. They are both religious and political in nature and lay out acceptable and unacceptable behavior. There are numerous different hale societies offering regulations on how someone should act in society. The two most important hale societies are the men’s Poro and the female’s Sande, with participants joining at puberty to be taught the ideals of manhood and womanhood. Initiations are secret and performed in the forest. Reports state that initiation into the Sande society often includes female genital mutilation while boys undergo circumcisions in the Poro society. Belonging to either the Poro or Sande society is so important among traditional communities that those who do not join are not considered a member of the village, clan, or tribe. Mande - The Mande people group is the largest ethnicity in Liberia and has multiple subgroups. Agriculture, trade, and animal husbandry are common economic activities among the Mande people. They are patrilineal and the oldest male serves as the lineage head. Class structure is also common among Mande people typically consisting of royal, noble, commoner, artisan, and former slave classes. The largest Mande subgroup are the Kpelle and alone they account for 20.3 percent of the total Liberian population. The Kpelle organize themselves into many chiefdoms each of which are led by a paramount chief. While mass conversion to Christianity happened in the nineteenth century many still practice indigenous belief systems either alone or in combination with Christianity. Mel - The Mel group in Liberia is comprised of the Kissi and the Gola, 4.8 percent and 4.4 percent of the population respectively. Most Kissi are either Christian, animists, or a combination of the two. A small population, roughly 9 percent, is Muslim. Most are subsistence farmers or urban laborers. During the first civil war they were in conflict with the Kran. Kru – The Kru are organized based on patrilineal relationships and divided in many subgroups. As with many other ethnic groups in the region, while many have converted to Christianity there is still a significant portion that still adheres to indigenous beliefs or incorporates them into Christianity. Indigenous beliefs are passed through folklores and proverbs. Attribute Table Field DescriptionsISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero identification / name PEOPLEGP_1 - People Group level 1 PEOPLEGP_2 - People Group level 2 PEOPLEGP_3 - People Group level 3 PEOPLEGP_4 - People Group level 4 PEOPLEGP_5 - People Group level 5 ALT_NAMES - Alternative names or spellings for a people group COMMENTS - Comments or notes regarding the people group SOURCE_DT - Source one creation date SOURCE - Source one SOURCE2_DT - Source two creation date SOURCE2 - Source two CollectionThe feature class was constructed by combining information from Murdock’s Map of Africa (1959) with other anthropological literature pertaining to Liberian ethnicity. The information was then processed through DigitalGlobe’s AnthropMapper program to generate more accurate ethnic coverage boundaries. Anthromapper uses geographical terrain features, combined with a watershed model, to predict the likely extent of ethnic and linguistic influence. The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.Sources (HGIS)Anthromapper. DigitalGlobe, September 2014.Gonen, Amiram. The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993.Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Africa and the Middle East. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1995.Minority Rights Group International. World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, “Liberia Overview.” January 2005. Accessed September 23, 2014. http://www.minorityrights.org/directory.Murdock, George Peter. Tribal Map of Africa from Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., January 1959.Olson, James S. The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Westport: Greenworod Press, 1996.The Diagram Group. Encyclopedia African Peoples. London: Diagram Visual Information, 2000.Yakan, Mohamad Z. Almanac of African Peoples and Nations. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999.Sources (Metadata)Central Intelligence Agency. The World FactBook, “Liberia.” June 20, 2014. Accessed September 22, 2014. https://www.cia.gov/index.html.Gonen, Amiram. The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993.Humanitarian News and Analysis, “Liberia: FGM continues in rural secrecy.” September 24, 2008. Accessed September 23, 2014. http://www.irinnews.org/.Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Africa and the Middle East. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1995.Olson, James S. The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Westport: Greenworod Press, 1996.The Diagram Group. Encyclopedia African Peoples. London: Diagram Visual Information, 2000.Vogel, Health. Blogging without Maps: a Journey through Liberia, “Societies within Society – The Secret Societies of Liberia.” June 16, 2012. Accessed September 23, 2014. http://bloggingwithoutmaps.blogspot.com/.Yakan, Mohamad Z. Almanac of African Peoples and Nations. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999.
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"Neighborhood Financial Health (NFH) Digital Mapping and Data Tool provides neighborhood financial health indicator data for every neighborhood in New York City. DCWP's Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) also developed NFH Indexes to present patterns in the data within and across neighborhoods. NFH Index scores describe relative differences between neighborhoods across the same indicators; they do not evaluate neighborhoods against fixed standards. OFE intends for the NFH Indexes to provide an easy reference tool for comparing neighborhoods, and to establish patterns in the relationship of NFH indicators to economic and demographic factors, such as race and income. Understanding these connections is potentially useful for uncovering systems that perpetuate the racial wealth gap, an issue with direct implications for OFE’s mission to expand asset building opportunities for New Yorkers with low and moderate incomes. This data tool was borne out of the Collaborative for Neighborhood Financial Health, a community-led initiative designed to better understand how neighborhoods influence the financial health of their residents.