Community Health Assessment: Ossining NYDemographicsOssining NY is a village located in Westchester County, north of New York City. Neighboring towns are located, north of Ossining Croton-Harmon and south of Ossining is Briarcliff Manor.
Ossining eastern borders is the Hudson River. According to the New York State Department of Health, (2017) “The village has a total area of 6.3 square miles, of which, 3.2 square miles of it is land and 3.1 square miles of it is water, making up the one zip code Ossining has 10562.” The reason why I chose Ossining as my topic for my Community Assessment, are three points. One, is that I live in this community now for two years and would like to learn more about it, in regard to what disparities the community may face.
Two, I work for a Community Health Center named Open Door Family Medical Centers, and one of the centers is located here in Ossining. Three, living here and working here I’ve seen the diversity of people that make up Ossining, and when it comes to healthcare there’s seems to be a clear division of among racial, ethnic and other underserved populations, which is a common denominator in many communities. Population and HistoryOssining has a rich history, “The community originally named Sing Sing after the Native American Sint Sinck tribe, was renamed Ossining in 1901 to distinguish the community from the Sing Sing Prison.” (Faiella, 2017). Still the site of Sing Sing Prison, historic Ossining still upholds 19th Century architecture buildings on Main Street, that has been a business center since right after the Revolutionary War (Faiella, 2017). The town is made up of four churches, several grand former bank buildings and the Squire House, with glimpses of the Hudson River.
Another main attraction in Ossining is the Old Croton Aqueduct, the system which once provided all of New York City’s water supply, is now a historic park that runs through the community, allowing hikers to travel through and catch great views and have the opportunity to visit the Farmers’ Market on summer and fall Saturday mornings. According to the most recent demographics data available from the Census Bureau, (2017). “Ossining population is at 37,998.
The racial makeup of the village was 37.1% White, 15.6% Black, 0.1% Native American, 4.2% Asian,
