Non-Profit Organizations and Recession

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Neighborhood Organizations and Recession Joseph Galaskiewicz (PI) Abstract Research has shown that organizational resources within a community affect the health and well being of local residents. Our research questions are: what effects did the "Great Recession" have on organizational closures in the Phoenix SMA, why did some neighborhoods experience greater losses than others, and did these closures impact residents' health and well being? We argue that changes in population size, housing values, and municipal urban policies e.g., zoning laws, incentives, tax policies, and strategic (dis)investments, affected organizational densities which, in turn, affected residents? health and well being. We will geo-code establishments that provided activities for children in 2010 and match them with geo-coded data on similar establishments which we gathered data on in 2003 and 2008. Indicators of community health and well being at the zip code and tract level will then be regressed on organizational densities, as well as changes in population size, home prices, and municipalities? land use policies. The work has broader significance, because not all residents have equal access to high quality programs, activities, and opportunities. With the results from this research policy makers can better motivate providers to locate/stay in under-served areas and to ensure organizationally rich neighborhoods for its citizens.