Linking social capital and organizational ties: How different types of neighborhood organizations broker resources for the urban poor
Gijs Custers, Godfríed Engbersen
Abstract
Recent studies have called attention to how neighborhood organizations can help people in low-income neighborhoods who face risks of social exclusion. This study examines how different types of neighborhood organizations broker resources for the urban poor. We investigate how neighborhood organizations employ linking social capital (vertical networks) and organizational ties (horizontal networks). Furthermore, we discuss the process of organizational brokerage and through which mechanisms neighborhood organizations make resources accessible. Qualitative field work was conducted in a faith-based organization, a professional welfare organization and a volunteer organization. Our findings demonstrate that organizations broker resources in different ways, and that mechanisms of organizational brokerage complement each other. We further show how neighborhood organizations play an important role in connecting people from low-income neighborhoods to main institutions such as the labor market and welfare bureaucracies. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for neighborhood effects studies and policy, and what the study’s limitations are.