Social Compact Announces Expanded Research Agenda DrillDown Studies to Assess San Francisco's Untapped Market Potential

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The nonprofit research group Social Compact announced it will conduct a DrillDown study in San Francisco in an effort to identify potential investment opportunities and to establish a database of city-wide economic indicators that can be used to direct retail development.

The study will encompass the neighborhoods of Bayview Hunter's Point, Bernal Heights, Chinatown, Excelsior, Mission, Oceanview-Merced-Ingleside, Portola, Potrero Hill, Richmond, South of Market, Sunset, Tenderloin, Visitacion Valley, and Western Addition.

Social Compact performed a DrillDown study in Oakland in August 2005 and found a $400-million-plus informal economy and aggregate income of more than $2.6 billion. Following the publication of the Oakland DrillDown, developers turned an abandoned parking lot into a public market that serves as a small- business incubator for Oakland. The intention is that as companies become successful and grow, they will move to larger accommodations and new, developing companies will occupy the vacated space.

In addition to San Francisco, Social Compact announced today that it has expanded its research agenda to include 11 other cities in 2007: Washington, D.C., New York, NY, Baltimore, MD, Detroit, MI, Ft. Worth, TX, Miami, FL, Newark, NJ, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Tampa - St. Petersburg, FL.

"Social Compact's pioneering DrillDown research has unveiled the hidden economic strength of cities around the country and has helped spur economic development in underserved neighborhoods," said Joseph Reppert, Chairman of Social Compact's Board of Directors and Vice Chairman of First American Real Estate Information Services. "We are excited to expand the list of cities that will benefit from our research."

Social Compact also announced the formation of the National Community Advisory Council, a network of local and national partners that will provide insight on ways to enhance the value of DrillDown analyses to help stimulate economic development efforts.

"The members of our Advisory Council have extensive experience and knowledge of the issues facing America's underserved neighborhoods," said John Talmage, President and Chief Executive of Social Compact. "We are excited to have their feedback and look forward to working with them to meet the evolving needs and opportunities facing our community partners."

Social Compact's DrillDowns have identified untapped market opportunities and spurred significant investment in cities across the nation. In Houston, where the DrillDown revealed an aggregate household income of $3.3 billion, developer Wulfe and Co. initiated a project for a 750,000 square-foot mall, the first new construction in Houston's inner city in 50 years. The mall created 2,000 new jobs, enjoys 100 percent occupancy, and ranks as one of the city's busiest retail centers.

"Social Compact's DrillDown studies have strengthened local economies and morale, as well as created new job opportunities for residents," said David Katkov, Vice Chairman of Social Compact's Board of Directors and President and Chief Operating Officer of PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. "We are committed to making a difference in America's inner cities by bringing the DrillDown to more cities in 2007."

Social Compact will use software donated by SAS, a leader in business intelligence, to determine potential investment opportunities in underserved neighborhoods. Using the SAS software, Social Compact will be able to better analyze inner-city markets to create accurate, business-oriented profiles of emerging neighborhood markets.

"The SAS BI platform will enable Social Compact to scale to the current and growing demand for their DrillDown product, and also increase the coverage of their research service," said SAS General Manager David Macdonald. "We are glad to play such an integral role in Social Compact's important work, bringing prosperity to so many communities."

Social Compact's DrillDown methodology reveals the hidden strengths of traditionally undervalued neighborhoods, adapting to the unique geography and demography of inner city neighborhoods to identify hidden populations, economies, and micro-market opportunities that traditional market information sources miss. The group has conducted DrillDowns in 101 neighborhoods in eight cities in the United States, finding an informal economy worth more than $4.4 billion, shaped by significantly more households and residents than census trend projections, and generating aggregate household income that is $5.9 billion higher than census trend projections.

About Social Compact

Social Compact is a coalition of business leaders from across the country that is promoting successful business investments in underserved communities for the benefit of current residents. Social Compact leverages its leadership's combined business expertise to address key impediments to private investment in inner-city communities: negative stereotypes, poverty and deficiency data, a lack of dependable business-oriented market information and an absence of effective inner-city market analysis models. Through its research and analysis, Social Compact aims to fuel the long-term competitive strength of lower-income communities by attracting needed capital, creating safer and healthier neighborhoods in which to live and do business. For more information: http://www.socialcompact.org/ .

About The PMI Group, Inc.

The PMI Group, Inc. , headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, provides innovative credit, capital, and risk transfer solutions that expand homeownership and fund essential services for our customers and the communities they serve around the world. Through its wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, PMI offers residential mortgage insurance and credit enhancement products, financial guaranty insurance, and financial guaranty reinsurance. PMI has operations in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and the United States. For more information: http://www.pmigroup.com/ .

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business intelligence software and services. Customers at 40,000 sites use SAS software to improve performance through insight into vast amounts of data, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better products. Only SAS offers leading data integration, intelligence storage, advanced analytics and business intelligence applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW(R). http://www.sas.com/

Leading by Example

Social Compact's success in catalyzing investment in underserved markets is due to the strength and commitment of its very special cadre of business partners who are leading by example, including Joseph Reppert, Vice Chairman, First American Real Estate Information Services; W. Roger Haughton, Chairman, The PMI Group, Inc.; David Katkov, President and Chief Operating Officer, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.; Mary Lee Widener, President & CEO, Neighborhood Housing Services of America; Joe Belew, President, Consumer Bankers Association; Michael McGuire, President & CEO, Affinity Bank; Clayton Adams, Vice President, Community Development, State Farm Fire & Casualty Company; Rebecca Craft, Assistant to the Chairman, Consolidated Edison Company of New York; Lisa Glover, Senior Vice president, Community Development Risk Management, US Bank; Ron Guggenheimer, Senior Vice President, Citi Analytics and Senior Director, Citigroup Global Consumer Group NA; JoAnn Kane, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Faithworks, Inc.; Preston Martin, Chairman, Martin Associates, former Vice Chair, Federal Reserve System; Robert A. McNeely, Senior Vice President, Union Bank of California and Chairman & CEO, Union Bank of California Foundation; Bruce D. Murphy, Executive Vice President, KeyBank National Association and President, Community Development Banking, KeyCorp; Jeffrey Rosen, Executive Vice President, Business Banking Group Manager, Huntington Bank; Dean Schultz, President & CEO, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.