Building community from the outside in: An exploratory study of how public administrators use relationships and funds to build neighborhood capacity to deliver services in four neighborhoods in a California city

Community capacity describes the ability of neighborhood residents and organizations to collectively mobilize around shared community interests. This study is an exploratory analysis of how public administrators at the county and city level build community capacity to deliver services in four neighborhoods in one California city. Most studies of community capacity building use neighborhood case studies to examine either one of two community building models: collaborative planning or community organizing. These studies neglect to examine how public administrators in government agencies, who have many long-standing relationships with communities and discretion over funding, contribute to building community capacity. Studies in the field of public administration have begun to explore these functions under a "new governance regime," but have yet to explore how these community building activities are influenced by the local political and social context in which public administrators and neighborhoods operate. This study used in-depth interview data from 19 senior public administrators at the county and city level with jurisdiction over four neighborhoods in the fields of social services, housing, public health, and education. Data is triangulated with data from six political staffers, three senior foundation program officers, and three Executive Directors of large community based organizations. Findings reveal that public administrators use relational and funding strategies to overcome many local constraints to community capacity building. The use of these strategies depends on (1) the existing culture of trust between neighborhood representatives and public agencies, (2) organizational infrastructure and leadership at the neighborhood level, and (3) local political pressures at the municipal and county level. Recommendations are made to (1) broaden models of community building to include non-group based approaches that support community capacity building, and (2) consider how local environments characterized by (a) existing levels of trust between neighborhoods and local government departments, (b) organizational infrastructure, and (c) political environment at the municipal and county level shape the community building activities of public administrators.