Cincinnati Ready for Investment

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    CINCINNATI, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Social Compact, in partnership with
 Mayor Mark Mallory, released the "Cincinnati DrillDown," report to develop
 a city-wide baseline of economic indicators the results of which can be
 leveraged to inform economic development opportunities and strategies. The
 report included detailed business-oriented profiles of market strengths and
 opportunities in 27 of the City's lower-income neighborhoods. These
 communities were previously considered undervalued. The report, based on
 analysis using business intelligence software from SAS, found that the city
 has significantly larger populations and higher income than previously
 reported.
     -- The DrillDown estimates Cincinnati's total population at 378,000; an
        increase of 22%, or 69,000 people from 2006 census trend projections
        estimates and a 14% increase, roughly 46,000 people, from the Census
        2000 population count and the recent 2006 census estimate.
 
     -- The report found that $2.2 billion in aggregate buying power is missed
        by traditional estimates. Overall, the report revealed aggregate
        household income of $9.2 billion, an income density of $181,000 per
        acre, 31% higher than 2006 trend projections.
     "The DrillDown shows that Cincinnati is a city on the rise," Mayor Mark
 Mallory said. "It is a powerful indication that there is a lot of
 opportunity in our neighborhoods -- opportunity for capital investment and
 business development. The next step is a neighborhood strategy that uses
 the data to leverage private and public investments across the city."
     The study was possible thanks to the leadership from the office of the
 mayor and through the generous support from Fifth Third Bank, the lead
 sponsor of the analysis. Enthusiastic about the results of the Cincinnati
 DrillDown, Fifth Third Senior Vice President and Director of Community
 Affairs Ed Owens III said, "We are taking a fresh look at underserved
 communities in Cincinnati as new places to do business. I praise Social
 Compact for providing this valuable information and important tool for
 informed community investment."
     Additional DrillDown support was provided by USBank, KeyBank,
 Huntington Bank, PNC Bank, GO Cincinnati, Duke Energy, and United Way of
 Greater Cincinnati. First American Real Estate Information Services Inc.,
 SAS Institute Inc., and ESRI contributed data, software, and expertise.
     "For almost 10 years, DrillDown analyses have been identifying the
 hidden power of neighborhoods in cities across the United States," said
 Joseph Reppert, Social Compact chairman and vice chairman of First American
 Real Estate Information Services, Inc. "The results in Cincinnati support
 our claim that you need the right data to guide investments and catalyze
 economic development in underserved markets."
     Social Compact board member Bruce Murphy, Executive Vice President of
 KeyBank in Cleveland, praised the joint effort that brought the Cincinnati
 DrillDown's findings to light. "The collaboration between Social Compact,
 local government, and private corporations has been proven to yield
 positive results for underserved neighborhoods."
     Social Compact's DrillDown methodology reveals the hidden strengths of
 traditionally undervalued neighborhoods, adapting to their unique geography
 and demography to identify hidden populations, economies, and micro-market
 opportunities that conventional market information sources miss. Instead of
 relying on census and census-derived data, the DrillDown builds on data
 assembled from diverse, real-time market sources, such as local tax
 assessment, building permit, auto registration, credit company and bill
 payment data.
     As part of a two-year deal with SAS, the world's largest privately held
 software company, Social Compact conducts its DrillDown analyses using more
 than $200,000 worth of donated SAS software, including the award-winning
 SAS BI Server. "It's gratifying to be so integrally involved in Social
 Compact's deep assessments in cities such as Cincinnati," said Clark
 Abrahams, SAS director of fair banking solutions. "Potential investors need
 a clear picture of investment opportunities in these markets, including the
 ability to identify strong emerging markets that may have been overlooked."
     And, as Social Compact CEO John Talmage noted, "Many people are not
 aware of the market potential of inner-city neighborhoods because
 traditional data sources don't pick up their strengths. When we examine
 undervalued neighborhoods, we find their strengths."
     The full report can be found on http://www.socialcompact.org.
     About Social Compact
     Social Compact is a national not-for-profit corporation led by a board
 of business leaders whose mission is to help strengthen neighborhoods by
 stimulating private market investment in underserved communities. Social
 Compact accomplishes this through its Neighborhood Market DrillDown
 analytic tool, developed to accurately measure community economic
 indicators provides this information as a resource to community
 organizations, government decision makers and the private sector. Social
 Compact is at the forefront of identifying the market potential of
 underserved neighborhoods and believes that a public private partnership
 that involves community members and leverages private investment is the
 most sustainable form of community economic development.
 
 

SOURCE Social Compact