The spatial distribution of organizational resources and resident participation in civic life in Chicago neighborhoods

Abstract

Building and maintaining participation is an often elusive goal of many community change initiatives. Understanding how the neighborhood context contributes to resident participation can help develop and improve interventions that engage more residents and facilitate participation so that they are more likely to improve neighborhood conditions. This study examines whether neighborhood organizational resources are associated with two forms of participation: neighborhood-focused activism and volunteering. Spatial regression is used to explore how organizational resources are distributed across neighborhoods in Chicago. Then multilevel models test social organization theory claims about the extent to which organizational resources motivate participation in neighborhood-focused activism as compared to volunteering. Findings suggest an association between organizational resources and activism, supporting social organization theory. This effect is independent of neighborhood socioeconomic composition, which suggests that organizational resources do not explain away the effect of neighborhood socioeconomic composition but rather add another layer of neighborhood inequality.