South of Market (SOMA)

South of Market (SOMA)
History
South of Market (SOMA) in San Francisco is a large district spanning from Embarcadero to Townsend. South of market is one of the predominant anchor district of San Francisco. In addition, SOMA has diverse population with distinct races. Since time in memorial, South of Market was first established during the Gold Rush era in the 1850s which later harbored many settlers working for gold mines (Sobredo, 2015). Primarily, SoMa earliest industrial developments took place in the 1860s. They include iron foundries, boiler works and machine shops among many others (San Francisco: Soma n.d). The aftermath of 1906 earthquake and fire left South of Market in ravaged state but was quickly renovated and built again becoming part of the commercial hub of San Francisco downtown (Sobredo, 2015). The South of Market held the core industrial zones. Some of the prominent industrial developments which took place in the early and mid-1900s include the coal yards and gas works, planning mills and rail works. Today, SoMa is prominently known for Coffee roasting plant, fruit presses, farm equipment and metal roasting (Walker, 2005).
In this respect, San Francisco became an industrial dispersal point. Industrial manufacturing started here and stretched outwards during the earliest days of civilization hence creating a strong connection with South of Market. The western part of the SOMA is the most industrialized region which is majorly dominated by booming businesses (San Francisco: Soma n.d).
General Population Characteristics and Demographics
The first occupants of South of market were the Spanish people around 1770s. They were later displaced due to political struggle for The South of Market held the core industrial zones (Bloomfield, 2016). The enactment of the 1965 immigration reform led to the highest number of Filipino immigrants into the South of Market hence thereby forming the largest settlers group. According to Bloomfield (2016), by the 1970s, the Filipino population had become the majority and consequently convinced San Francisco and the federal government to finance programs that will serve the newly arrived immigrants, the aged Filipinos and to cater for their needs. According to Claritas (2016), the South of Market district in San Francisco has a total population of 32,024 people. This population comprises of several races in terms of ethnic distribution. They include the whites representing 48.37% of the total population, Black/African Americans representing 9.97%, American Indian/Alaska Native representing 1.56%, Native HI/PI 0.38%, other races representing 7.74% of the total and 2+ races which represents 5.60% (Claritas, 2016).
South of Market income levels are distributed in terms of household/individual levels and median/average levels. In this respect, income record values were as follows; median household income of $52,513, average Household Income of $97,554, Median Household Income, Asian ($37,954) and average Household Income, Asian ($64,926) (Claritas, 2016). The highest level of education attainment was also obtained. Population of 25+ with less than high school graduation represented 17%, population 25+ male with less than high school graduation represented 14.49%, population 25+ female with less than high school graduation was 20.88% whereas population 25+ by education attainment was 27,580, male population 25+ by education attainment was 16,743 and lastly but not least female population 25+ by educational attainment was 10,837 (Claritas, 2016). Poverty indices recorded showed that families below poverty represented 13.47% of the total population whereas those families below poverty with children represented 7.15%.

Predominant Public Health Issues
Health insurance covering adults of ages 18-64 represented 84.9% of the total population in the year 2011-2012 (Claritas, 2016). Hypertension was the leading health issue in SOMA, San Francisco, compared to other counties of California with a prevalence of 50.1%. It was closely followed with hyperlipidemia with a prevalence case of 38.2% according to 2012 health data. The third health issue was high blood pressure with a prevalence case of 15.6% (California Health Interview Survey, 2015).

References
San Francisco: SoMa (n.d) Retrieved from: http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/sf/soma/ Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.
Sobredo, J. (2015). SOMA Transformed. Retrieved from: http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=SOMA_Transforme. Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.
California Health Interview Survey (2015). San Francisco Health Prevalence. Retrieved from: http://www.sfhip.org/. Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.
Rubin, G., (2016). Industrial SOMA and Redevelopment in South of Market. Retrieved from: http:www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Indutrial_SOMA. Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.
Bloomfield, A., (2016). Early Residents. Retrieved from: http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=EARLY_RESIDENTS. Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.
Walker, R. (2005). The Suburbanization of Manufacturing in San Francisco. Retrieved from:
http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Industry_Builds_Out_the_City:_The_Suburbanization_of_Manufacturing_in_San_Francisco,_1850-1940
Claritas (2016). Demographic Information. Healthy communities Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.sfhip.org/index.php?module=DemographicData&typeuser&func=ddview&varset=1&ve=tab&pct=2&levels=1&varid=1469&localeId=275&vl=tb&sregcomp=1 . Accessed on 24th Oct 2016.