Washington, D.C., May 16, 2011—Social Compact, a national non-profit organization that helps underserved urban areas develop accurate economic data needed to attract investment, announced today that Alyssa Stewart Lee has been selected as the organization’s chief executive officer (CEO).

With the exception of the U.S. Census Bureau, Social Compact is the only organization that conducts original demographic research in major cities across the U.S.  Social Compact’s research often identifies Census under-reporting issues and quantifies the purchasing power and stability of urban and micro-markets to support community development and investment.  To date, Social Compact has quantified more than $16 billion in informal economic income and identified 1.25 million more residents than estimated by traditional sources in over 400 urban communities across the country. This information supports improved quality of life in communities by attracting billions of dollars of business investment and creating job opportunities and more focused municipal strategies.

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Social Compact and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation’s 2009 DrillDown Report for Detroit will serve as a foundation for comprehensive economic development strategic planning for the City of Detroit through 2012.

(DETROIT, MI, February 23) – In the face of the national recession, many of Detroit’s neighborhoods are continuing to show strong market strength for retail and other economic investment.  The Social Compact 2009 DrillDown Report shows that while Detroit experienced an overall population loss, many neighborhoods remained stable or had grown slightly since the 2000 U.S. Census report.  In anticipating a Census 2010 undercount, this information has allowed Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Data Driven Detroit and other local partners to take the offensive in describing what are the city’s investment opportunities.

The report’s authors find that some neighborhoods, particularly in greater downtown, have benefitted from population growth since 2000 and have continued to grow since the 2007 DrillDown. For instance, Near East Riverfront’s population grew by 11 percent since the Census 2000 and was slightly more than in 2007. Likewise, the 2009 DrillDown estimated the population in Woodbridge to be 8,239, or 13 percent higher than the Census 2000 count.

Household income figures also showed some improvements. The 2009 DrillDown report finds Detroit’s city-wide average household income approximately 37 percent higher than the amount reported in the Census 2000 and 32 percent higher than recent market estimates. This higher income reported by Social Compact can be partially attributed to Detroit’s informal economy, estimated to be over $650 million. These income increases occurred despite an overall decline in citywide population. The report includes detailed business-oriented profiles of market strengths and opportunities in 15 of the City’s 54 master plan neighborhoods.

“The success of many retailers in Detroit belies the findings of conventional market data sources,” said Olga Stella, Vice President of Business Development at DEGC. “The partnership with Social Compact and Data Driven Detroit will help businesses access accurate information about Detroit to help guide their investment decisions.”

The 2009 DrillDown also reports that approximately $1.5 billion or 30 percent of total residential expenditures are spent outside the city.  As Social Compact CEO Alyssa Lee noted, “This finding may be the most important finding of the study. This demonstrates a real opportunity to bring additional investment to existing and new retailers. The Detroit DrillDown findings have served as one way to unify the diverse efforts of the city’s leadership to implement sustainable information-led development projects that will reenergize and reinforce the city’s neighborhoods.”

“For almost 15 years, DrillDown analyses have been identifying the hidden power of neighborhoods in cities across the United States,” said Joseph Reppert, Social Compact Trustee Board chairman and vice chairman of CoreLogic. “The results in Detroit support our claim that all investment needs to be led by accurate and timely information.  That is a value CoreLogic strongly shares with Social Compact.”

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Each year Next American City chooses more than 30 outstanding young leaders from around the country to join together for a two-day conference. Called Next American Vanguard, the group and the conference are dedicated to understanding American cities and strategizing ways of improving them. The class of 2010 represents fields ranging from arts to transportation to climate change and historic preservation. Coming from 20 different states, the group reflects the diversity of American cities and the challenges and opportunities facing them. This year’s class will be joined by 10 members of last year’s Vanguard, adding to the expertise and network of this group.

Social Compact congratulates and proudly supports our very own Nebahat Noyan, Director of Innovations and Applications, who was selected to join the 2010 Next American Vanguard forum in Philadelphia in May. We look forward to her continued successes!

WASHINGTON, Mar 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE)—Social Compact announced today the launch of its Washington, DC-based ‘CityDNA,’ a new easy-to-use web-based system that will serve as a one-stop-shop for visualizing and analyzing local market data. CityDNA aims to help local governments, investors and community groups understand and respond to the unique market characteristics of their communities.

CityDNA is made possible through support from the Citi Foundation and marks a giant leap forward in the technical capacity available to stakeholders working toward sustainable community development in the District. “The Citi Foundation’s support of Social Compact’s innovative technology will help Social Compact achieve its mission, which is to enable community development practitioners and private investors to drive investments and revitalization in underserved communities in Washington, DC, and ultimately throughout the United States,” said Ron Guggenheimer, Global Director of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Global Transaction Services, Citi and Executive Vice Chairman of Social Compact.

Developed in partnership with Universal Mind, a cutting-edge web-design and data-management company, CityDNA allows both experts and novice users to easily create their own data solutions, including customizable reports, maps, charts and tables based on their queries about specific communities in the city.

“The launch of CityDNA today heralds the arrival of a new era of information-led development for our community development partners in Washington, DC. Local governments, investors and community development organizations--whatever their size and capacity--will now have access to the very best local market data and information management technology,” said Social Compact’s President and CEO, John Talmage. “Developing tailored, localized data solutions for attracting investment or responding to mortgage foreclosures will now take a matter of minutes rather than days or months,” says Talmage.

CityDNA, a resource for informing market stabilization and revitalization strategies, will store a multitude of data including comprehensive real estate information provided by First American CoreLogic Inc.

“We are delighted to continue our long-standing support of Social Compact with the launch of CityDNA today. CityDNA will collect data generated by First American CoreLogic and is the perfect platform for the community development field to respond to the current real estate challenges and opportunities in Washington, DC,” said Karen Collins, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at First American Corporation.

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