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Jenkins' scheme is to make his bank a conduit for big Establishment banks that have been unwilling to do business in South Central or do not know how. "Founders National Bank can be the major banks' ears and arms into this marketplace," Jenkins says. With help from the black community, he hopes to grow his fledgling bank into an even greater financial asset for South Central. Late in May a coalition of more than 600 black ministers launched a campaign to persuade black residents to shift up to $15 million in deposits from mainstream banks to black institutions. "The larger we can become vis-a- vis deposits and things like that," says Jenkins, "the easier it will be for us to become a significant part of the rebuilding effort."
In the meantime, creative black entrepreneurs like John Bryant are filling the gap. Just days after the riots, Bryant formed Operation Hope, a nonprofit community-development organization. The next day he secured the $370,000 needed to rebuild a South Central landmark, a pharmacy owned by Gilbert Mathieu, destroyed in the riots. Bryant's goal for the next year is to finance similar deals for 100 businesses with average loans of $200,000. "If we don't create other Gil Mathieus, then we shouldn't be around," he says. Jenkins, for one, is confident they will. "In the '60s," he says, "we were worried about getting on the bus. This group of people is worried about owning the bus line."
Though Ueberroth has taped the Rebuild L.A. name to a dozen private initiatives since May, he knows the "rebirth" of South Central Los Angeles will not happen without some pushing and pain. Ultimately, it depends on whether the government decides to provide incentives for long-term investment in inner cities. "It has to be for good business reasons so it will last," he says. "If you do it for charitable reasons, it goes away as soon as the money runs out." He sees the prompt creation of enterprise zones as critical to the long-term success of his efforts. "If they don't want to do it for the whole country, then they should experiment with the center of L.A.," he argues. "Make it a blueprint for other cities."
Ueberroth believes that his Rebuild L.A. program will be able to prove itself in five years. That is an ambitious goal. But an even more ambitious ! task will be to ensure that the effort remains successful five years -- and 25 years -- after that. To achieve such lasting improvements will require more than a spurt of money and a flurry of energy; it will require engaging the people of South Central L.A. and giving them a stake in the outcome.