Nonprofit Embeddedness and Resource Sharing in the Support of Local Economies and Community Well-Being

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 16: Urban and Community Sociology

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations have long demonstrated their effectiveness in identifying and addressing community social problems across multiple sectors. However, these organizations serve beyond solving problems and enhancing and connecting the community by supporting local economies. Using the embeddedness framework, this paper argues that nonprofit organizations' community embeddedness is a crucial, though often overlooked, factor in advancing local economic development and fostering community self-sufficiency. Employing digital ethnography and document review, this paper demonstrates how deeply embedded nonprofits can be while simultaneously meeting community needs and advancing economic development. Rather than adopting commercial strategies, the organization demonstrates how a nonprofit can creatively leverage existing community relationships and programmatic physical space and assets not only to sustain its operations by drawing on resources already embedded in the community, but also to meet community needs and to embrace economic development through its programmatic activities.

Author

• Dikshya Dahal, Loyola University Chicago