Alaska Community Equity Measures

Below are the most recent statistics available for this Community.  If you are working on an application for federal funding, you can copy and paste the text from the narrative directly into your grant application.

Mertarvik

Census Information

2020 CENSUS TRACT NUMBER
2050000100

CENSUS AREA
Bethel Census Area

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
AK-01

CENSUS RURAL DESIGNATION 1
Rural

POPULATION 2
99

  1. U.S. DOT statutory definition of rural areas: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/infra-urban-and-rural-areas
  2. 2020 Census via Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development: https://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/Cities%20and%20CDPs_0.xls

Federal Disadvantaged Status

CEJST3
Yes

DOE Energy Justice4
No

DOT ETC Overall Disadvantage5
No

DOT ETC Disadvantage Components

  • Transportation Insecurity: No
  • Health Vulnerability: No
  • Environmental Burden: No
  • Social Vulnerability: Yes
  • Climate & Disaster Risk Burden: Missing Data
  1. Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/
  2. U.S. DOE Energy Justice Mapping Tool: https://energyjustice.egs.anl.gov/
  3. U.S. DOT Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0920984aa80a4362b8778d779b090723/page/ETC-Explorer—State-Results/

Other Federal Designations

Census Tract is Area of Persistent Poverty6
Yes

Census Area is Area of Persistent Poverty6
Yes

Opportunity Zone7
No

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Eligible8
Yes

Empowerment Zone9
No

IRS Difficult Development Area10
Yes

  1. U.S. DOT Areas of Persistent Poverty & Historically Disadvantaged Communities: https://www.transportation.gov/RAISEgrants/raise-app-hdc
  2. State of Alaska – Alaska Qualified Opportunity Zones: https://gis.data.alaska.gov/datasets/8d9176fcdcb44e1383f23aacd3282a46_0/explore/
  3. HUD Qualified Census Tracs and Difficult Development Areas: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/qct.html
  4. HUD Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities: https://hudgis-hud.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/1101a6c1e2364302b70485ca99fc7e69/explore
  5. HUD Qualified Census Tracs and Difficult Development Areas: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/qct.html

Economic Data

Average Individual Earnings11
Missing Data

Percent of Adults Earning Less than Minimum Wage11
60.00%

Percent of Adults Working Year-Round11
40.00%

  1. Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development via Denali Commission Distressed Communities Report 2022: https://denali.gov/grants/

Narrative

The community of Mertarvik is considered disadvantaged by the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool.  The census area is an area of persistent poverty.  The census tract is an area of persistent poverty.

84% of the population of the tract is American Indian or Alaska Native.  98% of the population of the tract lives below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. Mertarvik reaches the Department of Transportation Equitable Transportation Community disadvantaged threshold in the the Social Vulnerability category.

Additional Description Methods

Other ways to describe disadvantage:

Include information about your community that you know that others may not, such as:

  • Are you on the road system or not, and how much does it cost to get to Anchorage or Seattle?
  • What does a gallon of milk cost, or gas, or other grocery items?
  • What are the effects of climate change that you are experiencing – flooding, sea ice retreat, extreme storms, or permafrost thaw?
  • Is there anything you could say about kids or students in your community, and opportunities they have or not?
  • What about jobs or lack of jobs, businesses in your community?

Support for our work

The Alaska Municipal League would like to thank the Rasmuson Foundation for supporting our work to help applicants navigate through federal data visualization tools that describe disadvantage, equity, and environmental justice in Alaska communities.

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