Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-21-2013 Women-led Community Development Organizations (CDOs) in Miami-Dade County: A Model of Community Development Efforts Impacting the Economic Security of Women Jan Lindsay Solomon Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI13080718 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons, Growth and Development Commons, Human Geography Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, International Economics Commons, International Relations Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Solomon, Jan Lindsay, "Women-led Community Development Organizations (CDOs) in Miami-Dade County: A Model of Community Development Efforts Impacting the Economic Security of Women" (2013). 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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida WOMEN-LED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS (CDOs) IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: A MODEL OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IMPACTING THE ECONOMIC SECURITY OF WOMEN A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Jan Lindsay Solomon 2013 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Jan Lindsay Solomon, and entitled Women-led Community Development Organizations (CDOs) in Miami-Dade County: A Model of Community Development Efforts Impacting the Economic Security of Women, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Patricia Price _______________________________________ Harry Gould _______________________________________ Laura Ogden _______________________________________ Gail Hollander, Major Professor Date of Defense: June 21, 2013 The dissertation of Jan Lindsay Solomon is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii DEDICATION To my parents, Walter and Carolyn Lindsay, for instilling in me that knowledge is power, and to my family, Harold, Rachal, and Jesse for their patience and undying support iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My dissertation is a culmination of my lifelong work as an activist in the work of ending global hunger and poverty, and as a scholar of development issues, particularly the role of women in developing their communities in all corners of the globe. I want to thank my major professor, Dr. Gail Hollander, for taking this journey with me for the past nine years. My path has changed many times. She guided and encouraged me throughout the exploration of development topics, confident I would find my scholarly way and make a contribution to the field. I hope I have accomplished that task. Her contributions to my life as a scholar are immeasurable. Dr. Harry Gould has been a supporter of my educational endeavors for ten years. We have been colleagues and friends throughout that time. I have had the privilege of working with him as a committee member and as the Graduate Director, mentoring me through the hoops of getting my PhD. He has always been willing to listen to my ideas and help me formulate how they fit into the greater scheme of international thought. For his contribution to my growth as a scholar I am forever grateful. Dr. Patricia Price, one of my first professors at FIU, is also a valued committee member. She made it interesting and engaging to inquire into the meaning of place and how we create our identity as individuals and as society from that space. I am reminded now of what it means to have spent the last ten years of my life as a scholar in this place, FIU. It has changed the way I see the world. I have more compassion and respect for other cultures, and a better understanding of my own. Dr. Price has supported me throughout the process with a calm and thoughtful demeanor. iv I want to also thank Dr. Laura Ogden who agreed to participate on my committee from outside the department. Her insights and guidance from another perspective helped me find a theoretical way for my dissertation. Listening to my interests and scholarly commitments, she recommended I look at the work of urban development scholar, Marilyn Gittell, as a framework to study the role of women in development in Miami- Dade County. I am grateful for the direction, which became the inspiration for my dissertation. I would like to give special thanks to my professors from the Department of International Relations and Geography where I began my graduate studies. Each one challenged me to think about the world from a new perspective. I am grateful for their high level of educational engagement. It has and will continue to influence my ability to engage as a scholar at FIU and in the community. I wish to thank Dr. Nicholas Onuf, Dr. Elisabeth Prügl, Dr. John Clark, Dr. Francois Debrix, Dr. Paul Kowert, Dr. Rod Neumann, Dr. Mohiaddin Mesbahi, Dr. Damián Fernandez, Dr. Félix Martín, and Dr. Clair Apodaca. Dr. Stuart Corbridge provided invaluable academic support in development studies, as well as pointing me toward FIU to continue my graduate education. I am grateful to have met Dr. Gregory B. Wolfe, the third president of FIU, in my first year of studies in 2003. He not only supported my fundraising efforts for the university, but took a personal interest in my academic endeavors. He has been a mentor and a friend for ten years. I consider him and his wife, Mary Ann, lifelong friends whom I will always cherish. v I could not have accomplished this task without my dear colleague and friend, Monalisa Gangopadhyay, who served as my reader, mentor, and champion. She gave me the confidence to keep writing, encouraging me to own my scholarly work, and be proud of it. I owe her a debt of gratitude. My dear colleagues in the Office of the Vice Provost at Biscayne Bay Campus have traveled this long road with me. I could not have completed my dissertation without their encouraging words, patience on my tired days, and understanding of the task I undertook. Thank you, Steve Moll, Julissa Castellanos, and Rolda Serieux. There are hardly words to express the gratitude I have for my husband, Harold. For ten long years he showed such patience and understanding. Through many long nights of studying or writing he made sure I had dinner, coffee, or something sweet to keep me going. His greatest gift has been his encouraging words, always, “You are in the third set tiebreak. You can do it, Jannie, you can do it.” To Rachal and Jesse, my children, I love you. Thank you for being there for me throughout the whole process, encouraging me to finish, as soon as possible. I cannot imagine what it would take to thank my parents for the sacrifices they made for me to get a college education and send me into the world prepared for life. As a first generation college student they knew the significance of a college degree for a life of opportunity and success. I am eternally grateful. Finally, I am grateful for the women and men who opened their offices and their hearts to me to tell their stories. I am inspired by their optimism, and their commitment to the people of Miami-Dade County. I am humbled by their strength and courage to never vi give up. I hope I have contributed, in some small way, to the accomplishment of their missions. vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION WOMEN-LED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS (CDOs) IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: A MODEL OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IMPACTING THE ECONOMIC SECURITY OF WOMEN by Jan Lindsay Solomon Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor Gail Hollander, Major Professor Recent studies on the economic status of women in Miami-Dade County (MDC) reveal an alarming rate of economic insecurity and significant obstacles for women to achieve economic security. Consistent barriers to women’s economic security affect not only the health and wellbeing of women and their families, but also economic prospects for the community. A key study reveals in Miami-Dade County, “Thirty-nine percent of single female-headed families with at least one child are living at or below the federal poverty level” and “over half of working women do not earn adequate income to cover their basic necessities” (Brion 2009, 1). Moreover, conventional measures of poverty do not adequately capture women’s struggles to support themselves and their families, nor do they document the numbers of women seeking basic self-sufficiency. Even though there is lack of accurate data on women in the county, which is a critical problem, there is also a dearth of social science research on existing efforts to enhance women’s economic security in Miami-Dade County. My research contributes to closing the information gap viii by examining the characteristics and strategies of women-led community development organizations (CDOs) in MDC, working to address women’s economic insecurity. The research is informed by a framework developed by Marilyn Gittell, who pioneered an approach to study women-led CDOs in the United States. On the basis of research in nine U.S. cities, she concluded that women-led groups increased community participation and “by creating community networks and civic action, they represent a model for community development efforts” (Gittell, et al.