Getting Better Data
Market analysis using the Social Compact “drill down” method found population and spending power in one Washington, D.C. neighborhood was 51% higher than estimated by U.S. Census data.
This guide, produced by the Making Connections Technical Assistance Resource Center, encourages low-income communities to engage in comprehensive planning processes that help uncover and leverage their often untapped resources, including strong labor forces, consumer markets and transportation assets. Strategies emphasize the importance of linking a range of community investment strategies together-- such as housing and commercial development, community facilities and new businesses-- to achieve a multiplier effect, as well as need to connect to regional economies.
Three low-income New Haven neighborhoods cooperated to bring a new supermarket to the community after market research showed that millions of dollars in consumer spending in the area was being lost to suburban stores. The supermarket has since expanded into a shopping plaza.