Minority Founders of Community-Based Organizations in a Neighborhood of Concentrated Disadvantage: Motivations, Barriers, and Strategies

ABSTRACT

This study examines the significance of organizational founding and leadership by focusing on the minority founders of nine community-based–human service organizations in a neighborhood of concentrated disadvantage. It discusses founders’ motivations, barriers encountered, and strategies employed in establishing and operating such organizations. The paper draws on both institutional and resource dependence perspectives by paying particular attention to how minority founders seek to establish legitimacy and secure resources, but it also makes an important contribution to these perspectives by noting the distinct challenges and advantages for minority founders operating in a racialized context. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-based organizations
• founders
• human-service organizations
• legitimacy
• neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage
• nonprofit sector
• resources

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge comments by my advisor Yeheskel “Zeke” Hasenfeld (University of California Los Angeles), the recommendations and comments from the anonymous reviewer and the editor of this journal, also Peter Frumkin (University of Pennsylvania), and all participants of the Penn Social Impact Fellows hosted by the University of Pennsylvania (June 2–24, 2015) on an earlier version of this paper.

Funding

This research was partially funded through the generous support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and the Graduate Research Mentorship Award from UCLA.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially funded through the generous support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and the Graduate Research Mentorship Award from UCLA.