African-Americans make up the largest percentage of Safe Space's clients (roughly 52%), followed by Hispanics (about 30%). An estimated 69% of program participants are female and 31% are male. English is not the primary language for 22% of our clients.
The multitude of challenges that Safe Space's clients experience in their homes and neighborhoods are illustrated in these statistics from the NYC Administration for Children's Services for the year 2008:
- The child victimization rate in the Rockaways was 27.3%, more than double the rate for Queens (11.8%) and significantly higher than that of the city overall (17.4%). That year's child victimization rate in Jamaica – at 20.3% - also exceeded overall rates for Queens and the city.
- The unemployment rate was 12.8% in Far Rockaway and 10.9% in Jamaica, as compared to 7.7% in Queens as a whole.
- An estimated 26% of Far Rockaway families with children under the age of 18 fell below the poverty line and so did 38% of all single-parent families. In Jamaica, almost 20% of family households had a total annual income of less than $25,000.
- Far Rockaway has a juvenile crime rate of 15.2 per 1,000 young adults, significantly higher than Queens as a whole (10.6 per 1,000).
- Rates of HIV infections in Jamaica are extremely high (163 per 100,000 individuals) – more than double the rate of Queens as a whole (69 per 100,000).
- And finally, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's 2008 Community Health Survey informs that Jamaica had one of the highest incidences of mental distress and depression in the city, with over 68% of adults receiving treatment for depression in 2008.
