Neither Urban Jungle Nor Urban Village: Women, Families, and Community Development

205 Pages·2020·4.302 MB·English

by  Sara Stoutland

CHILDREN OF
POVERTY
Stu dies o n the Effect s
of Single Pa r e nt h o o d,
th e Feminizat io n of Po ver t y,
and Home lessness
edited by
STUART BRUCHEY
Univ er sit y of Maine

NEITHER URBAN
JUNGLE NOR
URBAN VILLAGE
W o m e n , Fam i l i e s , an d
C o m m u n it y D e v el o pm en t
SARA E. STOUTLAND
First published 1997 by Garland Publishing, Inc.
Published 2019 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint ef the Tt!Jlor & Francis Group, an ieforma business
Copyright© 1997 Sara E. Stoutland
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stoutland, Sara E., 1961-
Neither urban jungle nor urban village : women, families,
and community development / Sara E. Stoutland.
p. cm. - (Children of poverty)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8153-3044-8 (alk. paper)
1. Women in community development-Massachusetts-
Boston. 2. Women political activists-Massachusetts-Boston.
3. Community organization-Massachusetts-Boston. 4. Afro-
American women-Massachusetts-Boston-Economic condi-
tions. 5. Afro-American families-Massachusetts-Boston-Social
conditions. 6. Hispanic American women-Massachusetts-
Boston-Economic conditions. 7. Hispanic American families-
Massachusetts-Boston-Social conditions. I. Title. II. Series:
Children of poverty
Hq1240.5.U6S76 1997
305.42'09744'61-dc21.
97-33426
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-97695-5 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-8153-3044-8 (hbk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780203823026
Contents
List of Tables vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xii
Section I
1. Introduction 3
2. Theoretical Background 21
3. Ethnographic Setting 47
Section II: Tenant Activists Juggle the Three Strategies
4. Stella Tomlins 69
5. Rosa Santos 87
6. Diane Henry 99
7. Patricia Alvarez 113
8. Susan Beaulieu 129
9. Conclusion 143
Appendix A: Chart of Stability Strategies 157
Appendix B: Chart of Five Women Activists 159
Appendix C: Interview Instruments 161
Appendix D: Maps of Egleston Square 167
Appendix E: Egleston Square Demographics Tables 169
Appendix F: Urban Edge Staff Organization Chart 177
Bibliography 179
Index 189
v

List of Tables
Demographics of Eg leston Square and Boston
Table 1: Population 169
Table 2: Income 170
Table 3: Sources of Income 170
Table 4: Poverty Level 171
Table 5: Formal Labor Sector Activity 172
Table 6: Vehicles Available per Household 173
Table 7: Median Rent 173
Table 8: Percentage of Income Paid in Rent 173
Table 9: Percentage of Owners and Renters 174
Table 10: Educational Attainment 174
Table 11: Immigration 174
Table 12: Population by Ethnicity 175
Table 13: Population by Ethnicity in Percentages 175
Table 14: Hispanic Population 176
Table 15: Hispanic Population in Percentages 176
vii

Preface
This book is an outgrowth of many years of working at the grassroots
level with women and their families. During college, I spent a semester
living in a Mexican village assisting a development worker as she
organized nutrition and health workshops for women. I worked as a
VISTA volunteer in central Washington state for an educational
program aimed at the particular needs of rural Hispanic adults— an
organization whose board was made up entirely of farmworkers.
During this time, I also co-founded a women’s resource center in
response to the dismal environment for working women in this
conservative region. I returned to Mexico as a master student in
anthropology to study women social workers. My special interest
focussed on how their roles and responsibilities in their own families
shaped their methods for helping the families they served.
In 1992, as I was beginning my dissertation research on extended
family support networks in the urban United States, I landed a job as
an ethnographer to study how a community development corporation
(CDC or non-profit organization that develops and manages affordable
housing) impacted the quality of life of its tenants and neighborhood.
This project was part of a larger research project called “the Social
Impact of Community Development Corporations (CDCs)” at the
Community Development Research Center at the New School for Social
Research. When I began this job, despite my experience with poverty
and grassroots activism, I barely knew what a CDC was. Consequently,
my views on community development were primarily formed from the
ix