An exploration of how and why American city governments delegated the
responsibility for solving urban inequality to the nonprofit sector.
Nonprofits serving a range of municipal and cultural needs are now so
ubiquitous in US cities, it can be difficult to envision a time when
they were more limited in number, size, and influence. Turning back the
clock, however, uncovers both an illuminating story of how the nonprofit
sector became such a dominant force in American society, as well as a
troubling one of why this growth occurred alongside persistent poverty
and widening inequality. Claire Dunning's book connects these two
stories in histories of race, democracy, and capitalism, revealing how
the federal government funded and deputized nonprofits to help
individuals in need, and in so doing avoided addressing the structural
inequities that necessitated such action in the first place.
Nonprofit Neighborhoods begins after World War II, when
suburbanization, segregation, and deindustrialization inaugurated an era
of urban policymaking that applied private solutions to public problems.
Dunning introduces readers to the activists, corporate executives, and
politicians who advocated addressing poverty and racial exclusion
through local organizations, while also raising provocative questions
about the politics and possibilities of social change. The lessons of
Nonprofit Neighborhoods exceed the bounds of Boston, where the story
unfolds, providing a timely history of the shift from urban crisis to
urban renaissance for anyone concerned about American inequality--past,
present, or future.
