http://www.kansascity.com/216/story/580130.html

I would be happy to give it a shot -

Unfortunately, Census data undercounts urban core areas by up to 20%. Combined with concentrations of government-subsidized housing, and high cost land assembly, commercial development in the urban core appears too risky to the real estate industry. In a national survey of developers, the International Council of Shopping Centers reported that the largest barrier to urban core development is the lack of quality information about market opportunities (Achugbue 2006).

To overcome the lack of market information, Social Compact created the DRILLDOWN analysis that uses a multitude of city, state and commercial data records to create a more accurate picture of demographic and economic information in urban core neighborhoods. After conducting the analysis in 10 cities, the organization has uncovered 3 million persons with a little over $1.1 billion in purchasing power. These powerful findings paired with city development efforts have resulted in an impressive surge of investment in the commercial corridors of Houston, Santa Ana, Detroit, Harlem (NY) and Miami.

The Cookingham Institute of Urban Affairs and the Center for Economic Information want to bring this vital analysis to the Kansas City region. Project KUMA (Kansas City Urban Market Assets) will be a three-year partnership between UMKC, the City of Kansas City, development councils, community development corporations and Social Compact to stimulate major investment along our underserved commercial corridors.

First, Social Compact will conduct the DRILLDOWN analysis that will be used by Project KUMA to catalyze investment consideration through bi-annual conferences on each of the major corridors. Second, Project KUMA will partner with the city and development agencies to bundle necessary investment information (land assembly, radius market asset reports, build and codes permits, and zoning support) to attract small and large retailers into suitable sites along each of the corridors. Finally, the project will utilize the data to better inform economic development policy in the Kansas City region.

Beyond commercial corridor development, the DRILLDOWN results will provide the basis to challenge Census projections. Increasing our region’s population benefits school districts and other agencies that received federal and state monies based upon population formulas. Nonprofits and hospitals that serve immigrants will especially gain, as the Census tremendously undercounts these populations. Moreover, federal monies allocated to the city for infrastructure, health, disaster and other similar areas will also increase based upon the data.