connecting our local production community
Value of the PRODUCTION STUDIO and its social-economic impact
Creating a world-class studio for Fresno, and locating it in SouthWest Fresno, could be a tipping point in improving an area that's on the cusp of much-needed growth.
FRESNO BEE article
SW Fresno holds untapped wealth, study finds
Published online on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009
By Tim Sheehan / The Fresno Bee
Southwest Fresno has a reputation for poverty, blight and crime. It's a daunting obstacle to business development -- but the neighborhood's gritty surface hides a gold mine for investors.
That's what a nonprofit group recently concluded.
The area represents a potential untapped market worth millions -- if businesses and lenders can be persuaded to take a chance on it, according to a study by Washington, D.C.-based Social Compact Inc.
The average household income in the West Fresno/Edison High area is now about 23% higher than was identified in the 2000 census, the study by Social Compact concluded.
But the community's relative lack of basic commercial services -- it has only one full-service grocer and no bank or credit union branches -- forces residents to spend much of their money elsewhere. That loss is estimated at more than $130 million a year, Social Compact CEO John Talmage said.
That's the sort of "money talks" data with which community advocates and city leaders hope to persuade companies, entrepreneurs and banks to invest.
About 80 business executives, developers, bankers and community activists kicked off a new effort on July 30 to showcase southwest Fresno's overlooked potential, said Javier Hernandez, housing and development manager for the Fresno West Coalition for Economic Development.
A key to the promotion is the yearlong study, conducted between mid-2008 and this spring. The Fresno West Coalition and the city of Fresno commissioned the $100,000 study, and the city's Economic Development Department paid for it with help from banks and foundations.
Since 1998, Social Compact has conducted similar studies in more than 400 neighborhoods in 20 cities, estimating 1.2 million more residents live in those areas than census figures suggest. The studies have also identified $35 billion in previously unrecognized neighborhood income.
Economic development officials in Washington, D.C., credited Social Compact's market analysis with attracting businesses such as Starbucks, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Citibank to Columbia Heights, an inner-city neighborhood. Similar successes have been reported in Baltimore and Cincinnati.
Traditional market studies are based on U.S. Census data, Talmage said. But by layering neighborhood information from property tax records, construction statistics, utility payment patterns, business licenses, employment data and other sources, Talmage said, "we build a more complete count of a community."
What Social Compact found in southwest Fresno is a neighborhood where the average household income is about $33,400 a year. That's less than in other parts of Fresno but well above the $27,103 reported in the 2000 census. It's also about $1,000 more per family than current analyses based on adjusted census estimates.
Another key point: Residents have to travel a greater average distance to buy groceries or do their banking -- more than a mile and a quarter -- than anywhere else in the city. Citywide, the average distance to either a bank or a full-service grocery store is three-quarters of a mile or less.
The report shows that the area's lone full-service grocery store, the FoodMaxx store built in 1999 in the Kearney Palms shopping center, has offset some of the economic leakage by attracting $5.4 million in revenue from outside the southwest Fresno area.
That, Talmage and Fresno West Coalition leader Keith Kelley said, shows that investments in the area can be successful -- and that more is needed.
"We're not trying to figure out how to get Gucci into the neighborhood," Talmage said. "We want to figure out how to get basic services into the neighborhood."
Now the Fresno West Coalition, Social Compact and the city will work to identify business candidates and investment sources.
Through the rest of 2009, Hernandez said, the Fresno West Coalition is planning four more sessions with builders, bankers and businesses to explore opportunities for development in the community.
"This is not going to be one of those reports that sits on a desk and everybody just goes about their business," Kelley said. "We're putting elbow grease into it, putting in time and effort and staff to see if we can pull it off in this economic climate."
Kelley and Talmage both praised the city's Downtown and Community Revitalization Department for backing the effort. The Social Compact report was presented to the Fresno City Council in May and comes on the heels of an "asset map" report prepared for the broader 93706 ZIP code area that includes swaths of Fresno County south and west of the city.
"I have a lot of confidence in the ability of west Fresno to attract business," Talmage said.
"For the first time, there is a collective commitment from the city, from federal [banking] regulators and from the community to address the underservice in west Fresno."
FRESNO BEE article
SW Fresno holds untapped wealth, study finds
Published online on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009
By Tim Sheehan / The Fresno Bee
Southwest Fresno has a reputation for poverty, blight and crime. It's a daunting obstacle to business development -- but the neighborhood's gritty surface hides a gold mine for investors.
That's what a nonprofit group recently concluded.
The area represents a potential untapped market worth millions -- if businesses and lenders can be persuaded to take a chance on it, according to a study by Washington, D.C.-based Social Compact Inc.
The average household income in the West Fresno/Edison High area is now about 23% higher than was identified in the 2000 census, the study by Social Compact concluded.
But the community's relative lack of basic commercial services -- it has only one full-service grocer and no bank or credit union branches -- forces residents to spend much of their money elsewhere. That loss is estimated at more than $130 million a year, Social Compact CEO John Talmage said.
That's the sort of "money talks" data with which community advocates and city leaders hope to persuade companies, entrepreneurs and banks to invest.
About 80 business executives, developers, bankers and community activists kicked off a new effort on July 30 to showcase southwest Fresno's overlooked potential, said Javier Hernandez, housing and development manager for the Fresno West Coalition for Economic Development.
A key to the promotion is the yearlong study, conducted between mid-2008 and this spring. The Fresno West Coalition and the city of Fresno commissioned the $100,000 study, and the city's Economic Development Department paid for it with help from banks and foundations.
Since 1998, Social Compact has conducted similar studies in more than 400 neighborhoods in 20 cities, estimating 1.2 million more residents live in those areas than census figures suggest. The studies have also identified $35 billion in previously unrecognized neighborhood income.
Economic development officials in Washington, D.C., credited Social Compact's market analysis with attracting businesses such as Starbucks, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Citibank to Columbia Heights, an inner-city neighborhood. Similar successes have been reported in Baltimore and Cincinnati.
Traditional market studies are based on U.S. Census data, Talmage said. But by layering neighborhood information from property tax records, construction statistics, utility payment patterns, business licenses, employment data and other sources, Talmage said, "we build a more complete count of a community."
What Social Compact found in southwest Fresno is a neighborhood where the average household income is about $33,400 a year. That's less than in other parts of Fresno but well above the $27,103 reported in the 2000 census. It's also about $1,000 more per family than current analyses based on adjusted census estimates.
Another key point: Residents have to travel a greater average distance to buy groceries or do their banking -- more than a mile and a quarter -- than anywhere else in the city. Citywide, the average distance to either a bank or a full-service grocery store is three-quarters of a mile or less.
The report shows that the area's lone full-service grocery store, the FoodMaxx store built in 1999 in the Kearney Palms shopping center, has offset some of the economic leakage by attracting $5.4 million in revenue from outside the southwest Fresno area.
That, Talmage and Fresno West Coalition leader Keith Kelley said, shows that investments in the area can be successful -- and that more is needed.
"We're not trying to figure out how to get Gucci into the neighborhood," Talmage said. "We want to figure out how to get basic services into the neighborhood."
Now the Fresno West Coalition, Social Compact and the city will work to identify business candidates and investment sources.
Through the rest of 2009, Hernandez said, the Fresno West Coalition is planning four more sessions with builders, bankers and businesses to explore opportunities for development in the community.
"This is not going to be one of those reports that sits on a desk and everybody just goes about their business," Kelley said. "We're putting elbow grease into it, putting in time and effort and staff to see if we can pull it off in this economic climate."
Kelley and Talmage both praised the city's Downtown and Community Revitalization Department for backing the effort. The Social Compact report was presented to the Fresno City Council in May and comes on the heels of an "asset map" report prepared for the broader 93706 ZIP code area that includes swaths of Fresno County south and west of the city.
"I have a lot of confidence in the ability of west Fresno to attract business," Talmage said.
"For the first time, there is a collective commitment from the city, from federal [banking] regulators and from the community to address the underservice in west Fresno."
Tags: economy, fresno, improvement, production, studio, west
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