PLATFORM : Community Partners

Except for the condition of the economy, the most significant social problem in California today is the divisiveness and sense of isolation afflicting members of our society, particularly in urban areas. It is in this social environment that crime flourishes. When Californians do not feel connected to one another, when we have no sense of identity with each other’s fate, we have a situation where criminals can freely prey upon us.

Business is not a social-welfare institution. Any business, however, expects to adapt to its environment to succeed. At Rebuild L.A., we worked with Smart & Final stores. They opened a new grocery in a high-crime area on Crenshaw Boulevard. Before opening, they knocked on the doors of each house in the neighborhood. They hired employees from the neighborhood. For a store in its first year, Smart & Final reported that this store had the highest gross and net revenues of any store in the history of the chain. Even more notable is the fact that this store has among the lowest theft rates of any urban store in the chain, new or old.