Report may boost Detroit's image
Social Compact survey hopes to use community data to attract new retail business to the city and improve life.
David Josar / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick today will unveil the findings of a specially commissioned study from the nonprofit Social Compact that city leaders hope will boost retail development and improve the quality of life.
Social Compact, which is based in Washington, D.C., and began doing the studies in 1999, has spent the past six months crunching Detroit statistics that range from new building permits to utility bills as it uses its "Drill Down" approach to paint an economic picture of Detroit. The group concluded its work in the city last week.
Social Compact has done the studies in eight other cities and the results are invariably identical: population in the particular city is higher than U.S. Census estimates, crime is leveling off and the buying power of residents is more than suggested.
"People are going to be amazed at what was found," said Matt Allen, Kilpatrick's press secretary. "It's going to change some perceptions."
The group will send researchers to do more intense surveys over the next few months, Allen said.
The Detroit survey is the largest the group had conducted, although Social Compact has done segments of Chicago and New York City.
The mayor today also will deliver the first update on the NEXT Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a strategy Kilpatrick's staff launched in May that will focus on improving six specific neighborhoods in areas ranging from police presence to improving housing stock.
The Social Compact report, which cost about $150,000, was paid for by the Kresge Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, two of Kilpatrick's key partners for the Neighborhood Initiative.
"We need something that can get the city to a tipping point where you will have some retailers come in hopefully this might make some difference," said Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation.
City officials hope the report will boost the city's image and the data can be used to entice new businesses. In the eight other cities where the report has been completed, that goal has a spotty record.
A study in Harlem, N.Y., resulted in a few new ATM machines and two Fleet Bank branches; in Cleveland, Key Bank opened a branch in a blighted shopping center; and in Houston, a 750,000 square foot new mall was built; and in Chicago, it helped lure in a Home Depot store.
In Cincinnati, their study, which was released in June, pegged its population at 378,259 and not the 332,252 the U.S. Census estimated.
"We need a tool that more accurately shows who we are," said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, who is formally challenging the census figures.
In selling its reporting, Social Compact boasts on its Web site how it will make the data look rosier for whatever community hires it to do its report: "Poverty and deficiency data are replaced with business indicators of market strength. Outdated census and modeled data is enhanced with current economic and demographic information."
The group's managing director, Ryan Sullivan, said there is an "information gap" between the traditional types of data used to gauge a city's health and information potential entrepreneurs want who are making the business decision on where to locate a new store.
"Traditional data can tell you about single-parent families who get federal aid, but it can't tell you about something that resonates in the business community. We want to reframe the data in a way business people can relate to.
"We want to change the discussion away from focusing on challenges and negatives to looking at opportunities in the community," he said.
In Detroit they've been looking at the amount of predatory lending, the number of new housing starts -- a statistic where the city has been the leader in the state for several years -- and utility payments, which Sullivan gives a more accurate view of how many people are living in the area.
Researchers have been visiting the city monthly during the project, he said.
Both Allen and Mallory used "unique" to describe some of the findings in Detroit.
Neither Allen nor Mallory would comment on how the rash of foreclosures, which has affected thousands of households in Detroit, would factor into the findings.
Last October, the group released a 32-page report titled "Downtown Detroit In Focus: a Profile in Market Opportunity." The group found that the average downtown household income was $59,300, and 83 percent of residents in that area had at least a college education compared to a nationwide average of 26 percent.
Detroit economic leaders have been trying to use those numbers to draw retailers downtown, a stiff challenge as most retailers have scoffed at whether the number of downtown residents is enough to work in their business model.
Social Compact survey hopes to use community data to attract new retail business to the city and improve life.
David Josar / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick today will unveil the findings of a specially commissioned study from the nonprofit Social Compact that city leaders hope will boost retail development and improve the quality of life.
Social Compact, which is based in Washington, D.C., and began doing the studies in 1999, has spent the past six months crunching Detroit statistics that range from new building permits to utility bills as it uses its "Drill Down" approach to paint an economic picture of Detroit. The group concluded its work in the city last week.
Social Compact has done the studies in eight other cities and the results are invariably identical: population in the particular city is higher than U.S. Census estimates, crime is leveling off and the buying power of residents is more than suggested.
"People are going to be amazed at what was found," said Matt Allen, Kilpatrick's press secretary. "It's going to change some perceptions."
The group will send researchers to do more intense surveys over the next few months, Allen said.
The Detroit survey is the largest the group had conducted, although Social Compact has done segments of Chicago and New York City.
The mayor today also will deliver the first update on the NEXT Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a strategy Kilpatrick's staff launched in May that will focus on improving six specific neighborhoods in areas ranging from police presence to improving housing stock.
The Social Compact report, which cost about $150,000, was paid for by the Kresge Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, two of Kilpatrick's key partners for the Neighborhood Initiative.
"We need something that can get the city to a tipping point where you will have some retailers come in hopefully this might make some difference," said Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation.
City officials hope the report will boost the city's image and the data can be used to entice new businesses. In the eight other cities where the report has been completed, that goal has a spotty record.
A study in Harlem, N.Y., resulted in a few new ATM machines and two Fleet Bank branches; in Cleveland, Key Bank opened a branch in a blighted shopping center; and in Houston, a 750,000 square foot new mall was built; and in Chicago, it helped lure in a Home Depot store.
In Cincinnati, their study, which was released in June, pegged its population at 378,259 and not the 332,252 the U.S. Census estimated.
"We need a tool that more accurately shows who we are," said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, who is formally challenging the census figures.
In selling its reporting, Social Compact boasts on its Web site how it will make the data look rosier for whatever community hires it to do its report: "Poverty and deficiency data are replaced with business indicators of market strength. Outdated census and modeled data is enhanced with current economic and demographic information."
The group's managing director, Ryan Sullivan, said there is an "information gap" between the traditional types of data used to gauge a city's health and information potential entrepreneurs want who are making the business decision on where to locate a new store.
"Traditional data can tell you about single-parent families who get federal aid, but it can't tell you about something that resonates in the business community. We want to reframe the data in a way business people can relate to.
"We want to change the discussion away from focusing on challenges and negatives to looking at opportunities in the community," he said.
In Detroit they've been looking at the amount of predatory lending, the number of new housing starts -- a statistic where the city has been the leader in the state for several years -- and utility payments, which Sullivan gives a more accurate view of how many people are living in the area.
Researchers have been visiting the city monthly during the project, he said.
Both Allen and Mallory used "unique" to describe some of the findings in Detroit.
Neither Allen nor Mallory would comment on how the rash of foreclosures, which has affected thousands of households in Detroit, would factor into the findings.
Last October, the group released a 32-page report titled "Downtown Detroit In Focus: a Profile in Market Opportunity." The group found that the average downtown household income was $59,300, and 83 percent of residents in that area had at least a college education compared to a nationwide average of 26 percent.
Detroit economic leaders have been trying to use those numbers to draw retailers downtown, a stiff challenge as most retailers have scoffed at whether the number of downtown residents is enough to work in their business model.
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