Gramercy Park is a small neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. With a population of just over ten thousand people, this area is often not examined on its own. The median household income is $57,983, which is about average for the city of Los Angeles and the entire county. The percentage of black people is high for the county. In 2000, Gramercy Park had the second largest percentage of black residents in Los Angeles County. About 86.4% of the population identifies as black.
A majority of the neighborhood’s inhabitants were born in the United States, with only 9.3% of the population identified as foreign born. Compared to the rest of the county, this is quite a low percentage. Amongst the demographic of foreign born Gramercy Park residents, almost half of the population names Mexico as their place of birth. The second most common foreign place of birth is Jamaica at 9.7%. The neighborhood is located in the 90047 zip code, where 64% of the households with children speak english at home. The remaining third predominantly speaks spanish at home. This breakdown is similar for households without children, where 67% of the demographic speaks English at home.
About 14% of residents older than 25 have completed a four-year degree, which is average for the city of Los Angeles and the county as a whole. However, the percentage of residents over 25 with some college education is high for the county.
The “Street Reporting Without the Street” webinar emphasized the importance of using instagram to learn more about the community. One way in which this could be done is by browsing content by geolocation, a nearby hospital for example, and identifying individuals’ stories that way. Another social media strategy is using Tik Tok through either a hashtag search or the in app Coronavirus section. This will allow journalists to find and reach younger demographics, as well as those community members who aren’t active on Twitter or Facebook, more traditionally used apps.