New paper finds that non-profit organizations sustain immigrant mobilization
November 28, 2008 at 5:42 pm | Posted in immigrants, neighborhoods, non-profits, organizational networks, what to read | Leave a comment“Voting With Their Feet: Nonprofit Organizations and Immigrant Mobilization,” by Hector Cordero-Guzman, Nina Martin, Victoria Quiroz-Becerra, and NikTheodore, looks at the role of immigrant non-profit organizations in social movements. Reacting to the series of marches in 2006 for immigrant rights throughout the United States, the authors question the idea that the marches were “spontaneous outburst of frustration.” Instead, they argue, the marches were “in large part the result of long-standing cooperative efforts and networks of immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations. Immigrant-serving organizations were at the forefront of organizing public education campaigns, advocacy activities, and community mobilization efforts leading up to the demonstrations.” Based on survey on 498 nonprofit organizations in Chicago and New York conducted in 2005. In American Behavioral Scientist.
New book by Scott Allard
November 27, 2008 at 11:05 am | Posted in neighborhoods, new books, organizational density, social service agencies, what to read | Leave a comment
Out of Place: Poverty, Place and the New American Welfare State. Sweeping changes in welfare programs since 1996 have transformed the way America cares for its poor. Today, for every dollar spent on cash welfare payments, some twenty dollars are spent on service programs targeted at the working poor—job training, adult education, child care, emergency assistance, mental health care, and other social services. This important book examines our current system and the crucial role that geography plays in the system’s ability to offer help.
Drawing on unique survey data from almost 1,500 faith-based and secular service organizations in three cities, Scott W. Allard examines which agencies are most accessible to poor populations and looks at the profound impact of unstable funding on assistance programs. Allard argues that the new system has become less equitable and reliable, and he concludes with practical policy recommendations that address some of the more pressing issues in improving the safety net.
New paper suggests that organizational networks may help explain inconsistent MTO results
November 27, 2008 at 10:49 am | Posted in childcare centers, neighborhoods, organizational networks, what to read | Leave a comment“Why Organizational Ties Matter for Neighborhood Effects,” by Mario L. Small, Erin M. Jacobs, and Rebekah P. Massengill, argues that experiments such as “Moving To Opportunity” may have failed to consistently find that neighborhood poverty affects wellbeing because they tend to ignore the role of organizational connections . Based on original qualitative and quantitative data on New York City childcare centers, they find that centers often connect parents to resource-rich organizations throughout the city, that these connections tend to be important to wellbeing, and that centers in poor neighborhoods are not, in fact, less well connected than those in non-poor neighborhoods. In Social Forces.
Study finds Chicago low-income black neighborhoods lack supermarkets
November 13, 2008 at 10:00 pm | Posted in amenities, food deserts, neighborhoods, organizational density, supermarkets, what to read | Leave a commentDaniel Block, Noel Chavez, and Judy Birgen find that low-income black neighborhoods in Chicago cities and suburbs have lower access to supermarkets than other neighborhoods. Their work adds to a growing literature on “food deserts,” neighborhoods with a scarcity of supermarkets and other suppliers of fresh or healthful foods. For the report, click here.
ASA 2009 session on organizations and urban inequality
November 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm | Posted in ASA, conference | Leave a commentThe 2009 ASA conference in San Francisco, CA will hold a session on “Formal Organizations and Urban Transformations,” organized by UrbanOrgs.org network members Nicole Marwell and Michael McQuarrie. Session description:
In recent years, there has been a resurgence in urban sociologists’ interest in the role of formal organizations in cities.In contrast to William Julius Wilson’s much-cited thesis that cities, especially their poor neighborhoods, have become characterized by a vast lack of formal organizational resources, in the last ten years a growing number of urban sociologists has produced empirical work that takes formal organizations as their central object of inquiry.This work has included ethnographic studies of organizations in urban environments (e.g., McRoberts 2004, Marwell 2007), quantitative analyses of the variations in organizational density across neighborhoods (e.g., Rankin & Quane 2000, Small 2006), and historical discussions of urban organizational environments (e.g., McQuarrie 2007). Organizations are key holders and distributors of resources to individuals, families, and communities. Organizations also participate in the structuring of opportunity at the meso and macro levels, through their interactions with other organizations in neighborhoods, cities, and beyond. For both these reasons, urban scholars are increasingly documenting the role that organizations play in urban economic, political, and social realms. This session aims at bringing together a set of papers by scholars doing cutting-edge research on the intersection of organizations and various urban issues and transformations.
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