Schools, Medical, Senior Care, and Daycare Facilities
DEC used mapping software to calculate the distance from the remediation site boundaries to the point locations for schools, daycare facilities, health facilities, and senior care facilities. If one of those facilities is located within a site boundary, the distance is shown as 0. Some information about those data sets is provided below:
Schools: Publication date: June 27, 2025. The NYS State Education Department schools web service is made up of 18 feature classes. The Schools K-12 feature class is a combination of 9 feature classes that have school aged children attending. The feature classes included in the Schools K-12 feature class include: Public K-12, Private K-12, Charter K-12, State Operated Schools, BOCES, Other Schools for Students with Disabilities, Kindergartens All Buildings, Non IMF Public and Private Institutions, and Schools for At Risk Youths. The Other feature classes include Proprietary, Approved Preschool Programs for SWD, Colleges, District Offices, Feeding Sites, and Libraries. Two polygon layers are included for School Districts and BOCES Districts. Please contact NYS ITS Geospatial Services at [email protected] if you have any questions. NYS ITS Geospatial Services based on input from the NYS Education Department.
Daycares: Licensed and registered childcare programs in NYS. Direct any questions to: [email protected].
Medical care- Health Facility Map | State of New York
Senior center- Directory of Multi-Purpose Senior Centers Map | State of New York
Environmental Justice and Disadvantaged Communities
DEC used mapping software to calculate the distance from the point location for each site to the boundaries for Disadvantaged Communities and Potential Environmental Justice Areas. If the site is within one of these areas, the distance is shown as 0. Below is a description of those two data sets
Disadvantaged Communities: This dataset identifies areas throughout the State that meet the final disadvantaged community definition as voted on by the Climate Justice Working Group on March 27th, 2023. It contains the 4,918 census tracts in New York State and identifies the 1,736 census tracts that make up the current Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) definition. The dataset also includes the 45 indicators, expressed as a percentile ranking, used to determine each census tracts’ Environmental Burden and Climate Change Risks, and Population Characteristics and Health Vulnerabilities. The source for the Census Tract data is the US Census Bureau, Geography Division, Year 2019. For more information, please visit the United States Census Bureau’s website. The chosen 45 indicators represent a variety of data sources, both private and public. Further details on the methodology and resources can be found at the Climate Act website in the Technical Documentation, Indicator Prioritization and Selection section.
Potential Environmental Justice Area
Summary: Data shows polygon locations of Potential Environmental Justice Areas.
Description: Data shows polygon locations of Potential Environmental Justice Areas (PEJA) and is defined in the PEJA field. PEJA's have been identified based on data from the 2014-2018 5-year American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the US Census Bureau. Environmental justice efforts focus on improving the environment in communities, specifically minority and low-income communities, and addressing disproportionate adverse environmental impacts that may exist in those communities. The information balloon for each census block group area displays the census block group ID, population, percent minority, percent below poverty level, county, municipality, and a link to more information on the Department of Environmental Conservation's website Environmental Justice.
The data was collected by the US Census Bureau as part of the American Community Survey. Reported income and race/ethnicity data were analyzed by OEJ to determine the presence of Potential Environmental Justice Areas. The designated areas are then considered for additional outreach within the permitting process, for grant eligibility, and for targeted enforcement of Environmental Conservation Law violations. Utilized established methods as originally detailed in the Interim Environmental Justice Policy, US EPA Region 2, December 2000, and recommended by the Environmental Justice Advisory Group, Recommendations for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Justice Program, January 2, 2002. Individual thresholds for low-income populations (statewide), minority populations (rural communities), and minority populations (urban communities) were determined by using ArcGIS 10.3 (used to indicate if census block groups overlapped Census designated urban areas) and IBM SPSS Statistics 26 (to conduct a K-means clustering algorithm on ACS data for the three categories). More detail is provided under processing steps.
For layer information or to download this layer, see the NYS GIS clearinghouse.
Download the metadata to learn more information about how the data was created and details about the attributes. Use the links within the metadata document to expand the sections of interest see Metadata Link.
Credits: Data collection: US Census Bureau Data analysis: David E. Witt, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) Funding: NYS Taxpayers
Use limitations:
1. The NYS DEC asks to be credited in derived products.
2. Secondary distribution of the data is not allowed.
3. Any documentation provided is an integral part of the data set. Failure to use the documentation in conjunction with the digital data constitutes a misuse of the data.
4. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, errors may be reflected in the data supplied. The user must be aware of data conditions and bear responsibility for the appropriate use of the information with respect to possible errors, original map scale, collection methodology, currency of data, and other conditions.
