From the State to the Street: The Segregated Loss of Childcare and the Institutional Origins of Organizational Deprivation

Abstract

The inequitable distribution of social service organizations contributes to embedded systems of racial and economic inequality. But while the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and organizational deprivation is well established, explanations for how these patterns originate are less so. Departing from the community and organization as analytical focal points, this article draws on a series of recent childcare center closures within Boston’s nonwealthy, majority-Black communities to elucidate the role of the state in processes of organizational deprivation. Informed by a multiyear, multimethods study, the author documents the disruption of one vital organizational cross-subsidization strategy brought on by the unanticipated intersection of two discrete public institutions. Findings reveal that, especially under conditions of limited welfare state expansion, understanding community-level patterns of deprivation requires elevating attention to institutional field-level dynamics.