It'd make sense for nonprofit human service organizations (like healthcare and youth development groups) to be concentrated in LA's poorer communities--after all, 70 percent of the people who are served by such groups live below the poverty line. But according to a rather depressing report on the public services gap from UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, more of the 6,232 nonprofits in LA County are actually located in higher-income areas than low-income ones, and 31 census tracts considered to be poor don't even have a single nonprofit service organization. According to KPCC, the report also found that nonprofits in wealthier neighborhoods had a median revenue of about $960,000, more than double the income of their counterparts in poorer areas. South LA's particularly poor off, as are "East L.A., Central L.A. and some parts of the San Fernando Valley."
The service gap in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods was found to be particularly bad: organizations there were the least likely to get government funding and had a median annual income of only $100,000. The depressing stats continue, but the report did try to sound some positive notes: "The picture that emerges from the data is of underserved neighborhoods populated by small nonprofits that rely primarily on private donations. Most of these nonprofits have been active and sophisticated in engaging in capacity-building, but continue to struggle financially." [Image via Spread Thin: Human Service Organizations in Poor Neighborhoods]
· South LA facing large nonprofit 'service gap': report [SCPR]
· Spread Thin: Human Service Organizations in Poor Neighborhoods (pdf) [UCLA]
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