The reach of decentralized poverty governance: Race, politics, and framing poverty in community action agency mission statements

Abstract

The literature on decentralized public assistance programs in the United States documents racialized, partisan poverty governance founded on paternalism and individualistic frameworks. This article extends that literature to consider such frameworks in a unique site of poverty governance, Community Action Agencies (CAAs). Established during the War on Poverty in the 1960's, CAAs emphasized “maximum feasible participation” from low‐income citizens, aspiring to participatory models and funding structures that some believed could block systemically racist and politicized resource allocation. Drawing on a novel dataset of mission statements for CAAs across the US, I test how three distinct dimensions of the framing of poverty vary by the racial and partisan context of each agency's geographic location. Individualist, passive framings are common, and significantly more so in geographic areas with more residents of color and greater support for Republican political candidates. But some of the inclusive and participatory aspirations of CAA structures remain evident too, with race and politics predicting these even more strongly. Thus, my analyses provide new evidence for the way decentralization allows the deep reach of racialized and partisan approaches to addressing poverty, even with new measures and even in an arena in which inclusive participation was a central founding aspiration.