The Geographical Distribution of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations and Residents in a Neighborhood Community

Background

Nonprofit human service organizations (NHSOs) are not evenly distributed throughout local communities in the United States. Since welfare services and benefits of NHSOs are provided in areas that are geographically limited by NHSOs' locations, residents in a community where the NHSOs capacity is relatively low could be discouraged from receiving social welfare services due to their place of residence. That is, this uneven distribution of NHSOs raises an important issue regarding the balanced provision of social welfare services and benefits to US citizens. However, the issue of geographical distribution of NHSOs has been largely neglected in the field of NHSO research. Therefore, little is known about why some communities have more NHSOs than others in the United States.

This study will examine primary factors affecting the geographical distribution of NHSOs. Specifically, it focuses on the residents' characteristics in a local community as factors associated with the geographical distribution of NHSOs. The research question for this study is: How residents' factors affect the geographical distribution of NSHOs. The study's objective is to examine the relationship between various residents' characteristics in a neighborhood and the density of NHSOs.

Specifically, based on ecological perspective, this study will test whether population density, income heterogeneity, race heterogeneity, age heterogeneity, community volunteerism, and social safety and trust across neighborhoods affect the NHSOs' density in the neighborhoods.

Method

A total of 58 residential neighborhoods in Portland, OR will be used in the study. Using the U.S. Census, Portland Neighborhood Survey, and National Center for Charitable Statistics data, this study will include the above six neighborhood-level independent variables (i.e., sociodemographic and social capital characteristics) and one dependent variable (i.e., NHSO density) in the analysis. As a statistical method, this study will use a regression analysis. Because this study is closely related to the “space,” this study will consider the peculiarities of the spatial analysis (e.g., spatial autocorrelation) in the regression.

Result

By conducting a regression analysis with spatial consideration, this study found that population density (coefficient = 0.002, p=0.001), racial heterogeneity (coefficient = 0.046, p=0.004), and neighborhood trust and safety (coefficient = 0.042, p=0.095) are positively related to the density of NHSOs while age heterogeneity (coefficient = -0.167, p=0.004) is negatively related to the density of NHSOs. The other two variables, income heterogeneity and community volunteerism, are not statistically significant.

Conclusion

Overall, this study found that population density and the level of social capital (i.e. neighborhood safety and trust) positively affect NHSO density while the various preference of the services (i.e. heterogeneity) showed a mixed (positive or negative) effect on NHSO density. By identifying the mechanism by which NHSOs are geographically distributed, this study serves as a preliminary step to improve the balanced delivery of social welfare services and benefits.