University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 8-2007 Collaborative success and community culture: Cross-sectoral partnerships addressing homelessness in Omaha and Portland Patrick T. McNamara University of Nebraska at Omaha, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Part of the Public Administration Commons, Social Policy Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation McNamara, Patrick T., "Collaborative success and community culture: Cross-sectoral partnerships addressing homelessness in Omaha and Portland" (2007). Student Work. 5. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COLLABORATIVE SUCCESS AND COMMUNITY CULTURE: CROSS-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS IN OMAHA AND PORTLAND By Patrick McNamara A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Public Administration Omaha, Nebraska August, 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3287859 Copyright 2008 by McNamara, Patrick All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3287859 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DISSERTATION TITLE COLLABORATIVE SUCCESS AND COMMUNITY CULTURE;------- CROSS-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS ADDRESSING HOPELESSNESS IN OMAHA AND PORTLAND BY P atrick McNamara SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: APPROVED DATE n-\o -on Signature Typed Name Signature Typed Name Signature. D \lo l 0 - 7 Typed Name f ' ill- n -10 -ci Signature ( Jkc ■'L-k a * i l l e J Typed Name 1 - 10 - o ~~J ytVH ''A Typed Nameie C / Signature Typed Name UNIVERSITY! OF Omaha Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COLLABORATIVE SUCCESS AND COMMUNITY CULTURE: CROSS-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS IN OMAHA AND PORTLAND Patrick McNamara University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2007 Advisor: Richard C. Box This dissertation explores the impact of community culture on the success of cross-sectoral collaboratives addressing homelessness in Omaha, Nebraska, and Portland, Oregon. A comparative case study approach is used to build theory about how the environment helps to make conditions conducive or challenging to collaboration between government, business and nonprofit organizations. The concept of community culture is operationalized by including three interrelated factors - social capital, community power, and political history - to assess the two cities. Omaha is a model of a private sector community culture, high in bonding social capital, where central control of decision making and elite support has traditionally been the sign of a successful collaboration. Portland is a model of a public sector community culture, high in bridging social capital, where decisions are legitimized by using appropriate processes, with a history of pluralism and citizen participation, and where elected officials or public administrators have served as the leaders of a successful collaboration. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family. My learning all began with my parents, Joan and Frank McNamara. They are both life-long educators - no matter what professional or personal environment they found themselves in - and passed their love of learning along to me and my sisters, Kathleen and Beth Erin. Thanks, Mom and Dad! My pursuit of learning has been enhanced by marrying a brilliant and beautiful partner on the journey, Aviva Segall. I appreciate all the wonderful support and love you have given as I worked on this doctorate. I married into a family which also highly values education. Thanks, Segalls! And my education moved to a whole new level as I became a parent during my doctoral studies. Thank you to my daughters, liana and Leora, for all you have taught me and will teach me. As you like to say, “Now you’ll be Doctor Daddy!” ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I appreciate the many faculty members that played a role in getting me to this point. First, thanks to my committee members, Drs. B.J. Reed, Christine Reed, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado and, especially, my chair Dr. Richard Box. I would like to acknowledge the whole faculty of the School of Public Administration, who encouraged me as teachers, mentors and friends. And, finally, looking back at my former schools, I would like to thank Dr. Donald K. Swearer of Swarthmore College’s Religion Department and Rabbi Dr. Marc Gopin of George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution for their important contribution to my personal and scholarly evolution. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COLLABORATIVE SUCCESS AND COMMUNITY CULTURE: CROSS-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS IN OMAHA AND PORTLAND1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page# Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................. 1 • Organization of the Manuscript and Research Question • Contribution to the Public Administration Field • Discussion of Key Terms > Community Culture o Social Capital o Community Power o Political History > Community Collaboratives • Overview of Methodology Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................... 12 • Theme 1: Community Culture o Political Ethos: Public-Regarding vs. Private-Regarding o Political Culture: Individualistic, Moralistic, Traditionalistic > 1A. Social Capital o History of the Term Social Capital o Putnam on Social Capital o Operational Definition of Social Capital > IB. Community Power o Power-Over vs. Power-With o Operational Definition of Power o Elite Theory o Other Views of Community Power o Pluralist Theory > 1C. Political History o Citizen Participation o Land-use Planning o Political Leadership • Theme 2: Community Collaboratives > Collaboration Explored > Operational Definitions of Community Collaborative and Success 1 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided a Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (Number H-21515SG) to support the completion of this research. University of Nebraska’s Institutional Review Board approved this research project (Number 137-05-EX). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 3: Research Design 64 • Contrasting Community Cultures of Omaha and Portland • Research Questions • Two Collaboratives Researched • Phases of the Research • Strategy of Inquiry • Data Sources and Data Collection Chapter 4: Findings & Analysis Case Study #1: Omaha’s Community Culture and the Success o f Omaha Area Continuum o f Care for the Homeless................................. 77 • Descriptive Statistics on Omaha > Phase 1: Omaha’s Community Culture o Social Capital in Omaha o Community Power in Omaha o Political History in Omaha ■ Citizen Participation ■ Land-use Planning ■ Political Leadership > Conclusion to Phase 1 Research in Omaha > Phase 2: Collaborative Success of OACCH o OACCH History • Primary Research Question Answered • Secondary Research Questions Answered Chapter 5: Findings & Analysis Case Study #2: Portland’s Community Culture and the Success o f Central City Concern............................................................................... 160 • Descriptive Statistics on Portland > Phase 1: Portland’s Community Culture o Social Capital in Portland o Community Power in Portland o Political History in Portland ■ Citizen Participation and History ■ Citizen Participation and Neighborhood Associations ■ Citizen Participation and Diversity ■ Citizen Participation and Process-Orientation ■ Land-use Planning ■ Political Leadership > Conclusion to Phase 1 Research in Portland Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. > Phase 2: Collaborative Success of CCC o CCC History • Primary Research Question Answered • Secondary Research Questions Answered Chapter 6: Comparative Case Study Analysis: Findings regarding Context and Collaborative Success ................................................................................................ • Two Types of Community Culture • Collaborative Success in Two Types of Community