In fact, business investors, corporate leaders and community groups were urged Monday to take a closer look at the hidden economic strength of the city's most economically depres-

sed areas.

According to the "Oakland DrillDown," a study released

this week, Fruitvale, San Antonio and East and West Oakland make up more than $400 million of an informal economy — that is under-the-table wages and day laborer earnings and tips.

"We want to pull back the curtains on the vibrancy of neighborhoods and (their) potential," said Mary Lee Widener, chairwoman of Social Compact, which conducted the market analysis. "Underserved neighborhoods are often misread, but now we have hard evidence of what's happened in the past and what can happen in the future. The key is partnerships."

Washington, D.C.-based Social Compact is a national nonprofit agency that focuses on the market growth and potential that is often overlooked in inner-city neighborhoods.

Oakland is the first city on the West Coast to participate in the neighborhood DrillDown. The study is designed not only to provide information about inner-city markets but to help generate the flow of capital, create jobs and business investments.

The report highlights an average household income across the four Oakland neighborhoods of $51,064, or 26 percent higher than 2000 Census figures indicate.

Sponsors for Oakland DrillDown include several banks, investment corporations and PMI, a private mortgage insurer with headquarters in Walnut Creek.

The report, released Monday at the Fruitvale Transit Village, brought out City Councilmembers Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) and Pat Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown) and president of the Unity Council Gilda Gonzales. Sunne Wright McPeak, state secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, also attended. A bus tour was organized to showcase investment opportunities in the East and West Oakland, Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods.

"The study opens people's eyes," Gonzales said. "People thought suburbia was the future, but the urban core is the future."

Home sale values are another highlight of the report. The median home sale value in the four neighborhoods is $328,452, or more than double that of the 2000 Census.

Other cities that have participated in the DrillDown include Houston, Chicago and the Harlem section of New York. The DrillDown challenges the negative stereotypes of inner-city neighborhoods, replacing poverty and deficiency data with business indicators of market strength.

Kernighan said the report helps to provide a better perspective on retail and economic activity in the community.