DECADE AFTER RIOTS, INNER CITY LEFT OUT?

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Marking the 10th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, more than 300 leaders from business, government and community-based organizations came together Thursday to explore ways to foster positive economic changes in America's inner cities.

A variety of bankers, chief executive officers and national leaders, which included U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin and Jack Kemp, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke at the second biannual ``National Inner-City Economic Summit,'' hosted by Operation HOPE and held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown.

``Ten years ago this would have been an anomaly,'' said John Bryant, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE. ``Fifteen years ago this would have been impossible.

``Rarely does such a cross section of leaders from the private sector, community, government and academia come together to focus on the results of economic and community development in America's urban, inner-city and underserved communities.''

Building on the success of the first National Inner-City Economic Summit held in April 2000 and attended by then Vice President Al Gore, the event presented expert panels examining topics such as homeownership as the first step to financial freedom and education as the ultimate poverty eradication tool.

The summit also featured high-level Bush administration officials, who discussed the national push for significant increases in the area of economic literacy as outlined in President George W. Bush's recently enacted education bill.

Under the theme of ``Creating a New Era of Economic Stakeholders,'' the summit made the case that these underserved communities represent the last bastion of underdeveloped capitalism in America, and are a genuine new market opportunity for business.

Three days of rioting in Los Angeles, starting April 29, 1992, showed the importance of ownership. Stores were burned but homes were spared, so Bryant argued that social justice could be achieved through economic parity by offering a helping hand up, not a handout down.

The summit hopes to encourage the development of policies and practices that will create a new generation of local homeownership and small-business owners.

``As America becomes more ethnically diverse and traditional mainstream markets become saturated, it makes good economic sense for corporate leaders to regard America's inner cities as viable yet untapped markets, brimming with new opportunities,'' Bryant said.

Since 1992, data shows growth of small businesses in Los Angeles' inner-city areas has remained stagnant while unemployment and home ownership has gone up.

In 1992 in South Los Angeles, there were four residents for every job. In 2000, there are seven residents for every job.

``So what we saw was a hollowing out of industry in South Los Angeles between 1992 and 2000,'' said Joy Chen, spokeswoman for Mayor James Hahn. ``The number of jobs declined significantly between 1992 and 2000.''

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden said projects such as the Alameda Corridor will create thousands of new jobs in inner-city areas, but that much more needs to be done.

``It's a tough job trying to extract from my 14 colleagues on the council sufficient funds for economic growth,'' Holden said. ``But I think my district will realize the greatest economic boom in the next five years.''

City Councilman Eric Garcetti said it's been a decade since the riots, but that the city has a lot of work to do to improve the plight of those living in the inner city.

``We have so very far to go,'' Garcetti said. ``When we think about bringing capital to our communities, we must always remember the flesh and blood that lies beneath the policies and the children who simply don't have any hope around them.''

In the wake of the riots, Bryant founded the nonprofit Operation HOPE with the goal of helping to rebuild and revitalize South Central Los Angeles and other underserved communities.

Operation HOPE got its start when Bryant invited the chief executives of several area banks on a bus tour of South Central, where they saw residential neighborhoods that were untouched by the riots, areas where residents owned their homes and thus had a sense of being stakeholders in the area. Eight banks signed on, setting in motion a decade of growth and innovation.