Philanthropic Partnerships in the Just City: Parks and Schools

Abstract

The role of private funding and management in U.S. urban public services has expanded through the auspices of private nonprofit organizations in formal relationships with government and aided by large gifts from wealthy donors with visions for their cities, leading scholars to raise concerns about potential harm to democratic governance and displacement of public investment. Where do these private efforts fit into current policy initiatives to improve equity in schools and parks? Employing Susan Fainstein’s Just City framework, this article analyzes cases in which policy actors sought constraints on private dollars in an attempt to institutionalize equity into public private partnership (PPP) regimes. The Portland, Oregon, school board required that school foundations share funds with a districtwide foundation for reallocation. In New York City, unsuccessful state legislation proposed reallocating private funds but executive action redirected public city funds, and largely nonmonetary private resources. These cases can inform policymakers striving for just cities.