The Spatial Allocation of Social Provision: Government Contracting, Material Resources, and Urban Poverty

项目名称：社会供给的空间分配：政府承包、物质资源和穷人（联合主持：Nicole P. Marwell和Aaron O. Gullickson，哥伦比亚大学）摘要本项目从社会供给和城市贫困的文献中收集见解，以更好地理解美国福利国家中一个未被充分研究的组成部分：公共资助的社会供给服务的分配和可用性。在过去的三十年里，美国联邦、州、县和市政府从非营利组织购买社会保障服务的数量急剧上升。非营利组织之间对这些政府合同的竞争在地方、组织和人员之间产生了赢家和输家。然而，目前我们对哪些地方和组织获得了社会供给合同，以及影响这种分配的因素知之甚少。通过研究这些问题，这个项目将帮助我们更好地理解，福利国家中这一日益增长的组成部分为公民提供的服务有多好或多差。因为非营利组织在特定的地方提供服务，所以只有当提供者位于附近时，公民才有可能获得他们有资格获得的服务。这一准入问题对我们最贫困的公民尤其重要，他们只获得国家收入转移支付的一小部分，对他们来说，非营利组织提供的直接服务对他们的福祉可能与现金一样重要。通过这项研究，政策制定者和倡导者将获得新的知识，这将有助于更有效地从政府向公民分配资源。该项目使用分层线性模型和GIS分析来检查纽约州和纽约市政府向纽约市非营利组织提供的合同的分布情况，并检查合同分配与社区和组织层面变量的关系，包括社区社会经济需求、组织效率和社区政治实力。该研究将通过以下三个方面扩展当前社会学研究领域的工作：(1)在福利国家研究中关注收入转移的基础上增加基于服务的社会供给理论；(2)在邻域效应研究中，将物质资源的影响与当前对社会资源（如社会资本）的兴趣一并考虑；(3)检验非营利组织研究中组织层面过程与更广泛的社会过程之间的关系。

Title: The Spatial Allocation of Social Provision: Government Contracting, Material Resources, and the PoorPI and Co-PI: Nicole P. Marwell and Aaron O. Gullickson, Columbia UniversityProposal Number: 0648320AbstractThis project draws together insights from the literatures on social provision and urban poverty to better understand the allocation and availability of an under-studied component of the U.S. welfare state: publicly-funded social provision services. Over the last thirty years, there has been a steep rise in U.S. federal, state, county, and municipal government purchasing of social provision services from nonprofit organizations. Competition among nonprofits for these government contracts creates winners and losers among places, organizations, and people. At present, however, we know very little about which places and organizations receive social provision contracts, and what factors affect this distribution. By examining these issues, this project will help us better understand how well or poorly citizens are being served by this growing component of the welfare state. Because nonprofits providing services do so in particular places, citizens are likely to access services for which they are eligible only when a provider is located nearby. This access issue is particularly important for our poorest citizens, who receive a small fraction of state income transfers, and for whom the direct services provided by NPOs can be as important to their well-being as cash. Through this study, policymakers and advocates will gain new knowledge that will contribute to more effective resource allocation from government to citizens.The project uses hierarchical linear models and GIS analysis to examine the distribution of New York State and New York City government contracts to nonprofit organizations in New York City, and to examine the relationship of contract allocations to neighborhood- and organization-level variables, including neighborhood socioeconomic need, organizational effectiveness, and neighborhood political strength. The study will extend current work in three areas of sociological inquiry by: (1) adding a theory of service-based social provision to the present focus on income transfers in studies of the welfare state; (2) considering the impacts of material resources alongside the current interest in social resources (e.g., social capital) in studies of neighborhood effects; and (3) examining the relationships between organizational-level processes and wider social processes in studies of nonprofit organizations.