Like miners in search of fabled treasure, for the past year Project KCUMA (Kansas City Urban Market Assets) has been searching for undiscovered wealth in Kansas City’s urban core. Now they’re ready to declare they’ve found it – in the form of people and buying power previously not recognized.
KCUMA is a unique public-private partnership between UMKC, the City of Kansas City, and a range of local organizations that includes the Southtown Council. Central to the partnership is Social Compact, a national coalition that purports to be able to identify market factors - such as households and buying power – which the US Census misses. Social Compact has completed Drilldowns for a number of major cities. In Kansas City, they have teamed with KCUMA and UMKC.
At a recent preview with the Southtown Planning & Development Committee, KCUMA’s Dr. Dan Melton shared the preliminary findings. Although the project is still in its final stages, the results are encouraging. Looking at 4th and 5th district neighborhoods, KUCMA reports to have “found” an estimated 10 to 15% more households than the Census counted, and for some areas, as much as 30% more income. Those numbers are important to those who promote urban core redevelopment. “In other cities, major businesses such as Target have chosen to locate stores where they might not otherwise, because they now see there’s a market there,” says Melton.
The ultimate goal of KCUMA is to put this information in the hands of organizations like Southtown, so they can more effectively market their community. For more information, go to kcuma.org.