Welcome to C.I.V.I.C.
- America’s inner-city neighborhoods have the untapped potential to become healthy, vital local economies – but these neighborhoods are consistently under-served.
- Those who do live in the inner-city routinely spend a greater share of their income outside their own neighborhoods, purchasing goods and services that are unavailable locally. This expenditure leakage undermines inner-city quality of life.
- For businesses in the inner-city, this translates into lost sales, or what marketers call "Float Dollars” – and for inner-city residents, these are "Float Jobs," – as crucial dollars that could employ local residents and fuel the neighborhood economy are spent elsewhere.
- This is the basis for – C.I.V.I.C. – Coordinated Initiatives adding Value to the Inner-City – a community-based organization positioned to help foster a stronger link between merchants and the communities they serve.
- The premise is simple – consumers need to save money, while helping their community prosper, and businesses want to increase their revenue stream within these same communities.
What We are All About At
Inner-cities continue to lag behind the rest of the U.S. in terms of economic performance – Inner-cities are defined as concentrations of economic distressed urban areas, measured by poverty rates, income levels, and unemployment.
Inner-city poverty is concentrated – inner-city areas account for the great majority of households living in poverty – with sixty-five percent of the poor in the 100 largest central cities living in the inner city.
Inner-cities need new, market-oriented strategies that will build on their strengths and engage the private sector.
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Inner-cities must and can compete, and C.I.V.I.C. – Coordinated Initiatives adding Value to the Inner-City has been created to aid in this process.