Latin@ Entrepreneurship in Suburban Nonprofits: Working within Boundaries

Social science scholars have not investigated how suburban organizational networks have helped secure community resources. Instead, recent studies have described how organizational networks link to community resources at the... [ view full abstract ]

Social science scholars have not investigated how suburban organizational networks have helped secure community resources. Instead, recent studies have described how organizational networks link to community resources at the individual (Small 2009) and community (Marwell 2007; Mosley 2010) levels. My paper examines how organizational networks are constructed, sustained and the implications for community resources. I use the case of suburban community service agencies and how they serve the growing Latin American immigrant population to answer the following question: How do suburban nonprofits become leaders in providing services for Latin American immigrants? Drawing on interviews with nonprofit professionals and local community leaders, I find that how nonprofit entrepreneurs, most of whom are of Latin American decent, connect with and protect relationships with local elites, who happen to be white, explains how a local library and private social service agency became leaders within immigrant specific services. I address other factors such as staff work experience, mission, organizational structure, and board homogeneity to show the importance of networks between nonprofit leaders and local elites. The results reveal how staff networks are evidence of the importance of working within the existing U.S. racial order when creating programming for a new racial/ ethnic demographic.