User:Marleypirochta/sandbox

Practice Experience Organization

The Bread Project is a social enterprise in Berkeley that provides technical training in the baking industry, as well as general professional development skills, to low-income residents of the Bay Area who have various barriers to employment. Populations with "barriers" can include refugees, immigrants, those with incarceration records, the homeless, the disabled, survivors of domestic abuse, single parents, and more. It is a non-profit organization receives tax-exempt donations, but it also supplements its financial needs with a social enterprise. The Bread Project partners with local Bay Area vendors to provide products for sale. For instance, Ayesha Curry's restaurant International Smoke features our sweet potato buns for their burgers, The Bread Project makes all the edible cookie dough for a cookie dough cafe in San Francisco called DoughP, and Berkeley's own Melo Melo Kava Bar serves Bread Project cookies. Additionally, The Bread Project rents out its commercial kitchen space to women and minority-owned businesses who do not yet have enough capital to invest in their own full kitchen space.

Wikipedia Article Selection

Area

San Francisco Bay Area

For the reasons aforementioned below in the Article Evaluation section, I'll be contributing to the "Economy" section of the San Francisco Bay Area article. There is more evidence available, as well as more room for deeper and relevant analysis, within the San Francisco Bay Area article rather than the East Bay article. I'll be able to draw from greater phenomena (technology industry, startup culture, NGO/non-profit work, anti-poverty frameworks) to discuss the causes and sources of poverty in the region.

Sector

Social economy

I intend to contribute to the currently very sparse United States section, as well as the introductory "Social Enterprise Compass" section which outlines frameworks for the various actors within a social economy. They outline a rigid framework about the legal and financial structures of social enterprises which I intend to expand.

Article Evaluation

Area

San Francisco Bay Area

This article discusses the Bay Area's history thoroughly, however its depiction of the contemporary Bay Area is primarily focused on the booming technology industry. While this is a crucial aspect of the San Francisco Bay Area's current state of being (politically, economically, socially, etc), this does not show the entire picture.

Such a lack is most clearly shown in the Economy section, which again only focuses on how Silicon Valley's startup culture has permeated into the greater San Francisco Bay Area. My goal is to contribute a paragraph or two (or more!) about the realities of poverty in the region. While plenty have benefitted from the technology boom, many have also suffered. From rising housing prices and gentrification to homelessness and low-income communities, I feel that bringing in sources revolving the area's poverty is absolutely crucial for this Wikipedia page to portray a more holistic reality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sector

Social economy

This article as flagged as having multiple issues, including "needs attention from an expert in economics." My plan is to work on two key projects within the article. Firstly, I'll be re-working and contributing to the United States section, which touches very briefly on the various legal and financial hybridized structures that social enterprises may take. I'd like to discuss more on both the difficulties and flexibilities that are social enterprises encounter given the United States policies on obtaining and maintaining a 501(c)(3) non-profit status.

Additionally, I plan to add to the social enterprise compass which immediately follows the introduction. It outlines a rigid structure, with spectrums in a grid-like structure of socially-driven versus profit-driven operations and financial statuses. I intend to add more about hybridized structures here as well, not refuting but complicated and expounding on the aforementioned framework.

Overall, I hope to expound on the possibilities of a "social economy" such that it does not necessarily represent a right- or left- politically minded ideology; instead, I hope to show that (especially in the United States) a social economy can, in fact, be the solution to many issues of poverty while maintaining a feasible, productive free market economy.

Scholarly Sources

Area

San Francisco Bay Area - Economy

1) Whittle, Henry J, et al. Food insecurity, chronic illness, and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area: An example of structural violence in United States public policy. Journal of Social Science and Medicine, 2015.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953615300794

This source uses a study performed on Bay Area residents currently receiving some form of food assistance to explore how US policy and the second technological boom (beginning in 2011) constitute structural violence that imposes food insecurity, chronic illness, and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area. One striking approach is the idea that gentrification as a concept not only pertains to physical displacement of poor populations, but also social exclusion as the region begins to accommodate its policies and developments towards the newcomers with money. This source sheds light not only on the existence of gentrification as a phenomenon of the Bay Area, but also its implications and effects that permeate into the overall well-being (specifically, food insecurity and chronic illness as a result of this deepened impoverishment) of poor communities in the region.

2) Murphey, Stacy H. “The Politics of Benevolence: Homelessness Policy in San Francisco.” University of California, Berkeley, UMI Microform, ProQuest LLC, 2008, pp. 25–111.

https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/docview/304697562

Murphey’s main claim is that San Francisco’s approach to homelessness has been more benevolent and in-line with supposedly “liberal” beliefs - that is, common good, inclusivity, community-building and moral obligation to the poor - yet the actuality of homelessness policies have simply created new forms of domineering governance. A new perspective that this article brought in is that of poverty policy and the ways in which it can actually counterproductively exacerbate social and political exclusion of the poor through its patriarchal structure (i.e. the Cash Not Care Program). I’d like to bring policy into the Wikipedia article as a means of showing what sorts of action has been taken and the ideologies their nature and rhetoric support. I feel this stands in stark contrast to The Bread Project’s approach, which requires much more initiative from beneficiaries to ask for help and actively search for resources/opportunities, so this will be a unique point of view to bring into my collection of sources. Poverty of the Bay Area cannot be ignored; just in moving from my relatively affluent hometown of San Mateo on the Bay Area Peninsula to the East Bay Area in Berkeley and Oakland, poverty became much more visible and apparent. Unlike my hometown with clean streets, numerous parks, job opportunities, and very little crime which renders poverty nonexistent, other cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have homeless populations which render poverty more visible. To accurately depict the reality of the Bay Area, how poverty manifests must be included in the discussions of the Bay Area economy.

3) De Graauw, Els, and Floris Vermuelen. “Cities and the Politics of Immigrant Integration: a Comparison of Berlin, Amsterdam, New York City, and San Francisco.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 42, 2016, pp. 989–1012., doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1126089.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1126089?needAccess=true

This source asserts that San Francisco, relative to other major cities that are generally left-leaning centers of economic activity, San Francisco is one of the most immigrant-friendly cities, with various programs and policies across sectors (private, public, nonprofit, etc) offering integration and employment opportunities. According to this source, there are over 200 community-based immigrant rights and support organizations in San Francisco alone, which is significant such that it suggests a general welcoming culture towards immigrants and their integration into the community and the economy (at least relative to other places). The relevance of immigrants and their contribution to the Bay Area economy cannot be excluded from the section; a large number of The Bread Project’s participants are immigrants, refugees, or asylees.

4) Walker, Richard. Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area. PM Press, 2018.http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=Bay+Area+poverty/1%2C58%2C58%2CB/frameset&FF=XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&8%2C8%2C

Given its recent publishing date, this up-to-date source should provide insight as to the contemporary causes of poverty in the Bay Area, which is ever so quickly giving way to the technology industry and its well-paid employees who enter the local areas, push out low-income populations, and gentrify its businesses. I hope Pictures of a Gone City will offer some evidence-based examples and statistics of the effects of gentrification (and technology as a whole) on low-income communities to help shed light on poverty in the Bay Area (and East Bay in particular, if possible) for the Wikipedia article.

5) Plaster, Joseph. Importing injuries: how deregulation and the Wal-Mart poison the Port of Oakland's neighbors and force poverty wages on its truckers.http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=Bay+Area+poverty/1%2C58%2C58%2CB/frameset&FF=XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&18%2C18%2C

This source does sound like it may contain some bias and political skewing. However, if it contains reliable statistics regarding the specific, evidence-based results of Wal-Mart and deregulation on poverty levels, it may offer important insight on how and when poverty emerged in the Bay Area more contemporarily, as well as what catalyzed it.

6) Soursourian, Matthew. Suburbanization of Poverty in the Bay Area. Community Development Research Brief, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, 2012.

https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Suburbanization-of-Poverty-in-the-Bay-Area1.pdf

Discusses how the San Francisco Bay Area's impoverished populations and other manifestations have shifted from its traditional setting and perceptions in inner-city "ghettos" to suburban areas. Need to review how "scholarly" this article is because it will still bring in very useful information with real statistics from the city itself rather than just theory or very specific, specialized studies as the other sources have done.

Sector

Social Economy- United States and Social Enterprise Compass

1) Frutcherman, Jim. “For Love or Lucre.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2011, pp. 42–47.

https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1472574/files/73651631?module_item_id=15638455

Frutcherman explores the variety of legal and financial hybrid structures which social enterprises can take on. From the simple for-profit private business or 501(c)(3) non-profit NGO to the more abstract “for-profit with a social overlay” or “non-profit with a mission-related enterprise,” this source complicates the framework from the original Social Enterprise Compass given in the Wikipedia article. I’ll add these new models and build off of Frutherman’s hybrid examples that help demonstrate the potential for complexity of various actors within a social economy. The Bread Project is a great example of this, given that it has both a non-profit side that receives tax-exempt donations and runs the Bakery Bootcamp and professional development services, but also the social enterprise that helps financially sustain its programs.

2) Mook, Laurie, et al. Understanding the Social Economy of the United States. University of Toronto Press, 2015.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0R-NBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22social+economy&ots=d3fdNlPsfu&sig=cF6XOdFZ6dP7hU9yN8915_HGCLM#v=onepage&q=%22social%20economy&f=false

Mook asserts that defining social institutions purely by the tax code (she is referring to the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by United States law), we are limiting not only our understanding but the potential for faith in growth in for-profit companies in achieving social goals. Also framing social entrepreneurship as venture philanthropy (which it certainly can be but is not limited to), this source expounds on the origins, limits, and growth potential for social entrepreneurship as a legitimate field within the workings of a more socially responsible market system -- or, in other words, a social economy. She characterizes the social economy as a space in the United States where there is room to break down the aforementioned rigid barriers of public, private, and non-profit sectors. Much of her theory aligns with the literature I’ve read about social entrepreneurship but contextualizes it into the broader social economy space within the United States.

3) Battilana, Julie, et al. “In Search of the Hybrid Ideal.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2012, pp. 51–55.

https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1472574/files/73887110?module_item_id=15646611

This source, much like the Fruterman souce, also explores the various ways players within social economy -- be they buyers, sellers, or intermediates, can operate and exist within the legal and financial boundaries of the United States. Unlike Frutcherman, however, this source goes much more in-depth such that I can use it to work specifically on the United States section of the Wikipedia article (given that it pertains to our laws and culture specifically) rather than solely the general framework of a social enterprise. This article ties in with the “bootstrap” mentality of the United States; the Wikipedia article already mentions how relatively neoliberal, market-based and “hard work reaps reward” American ideologies have contributed to the rise of for-profit social enterprises in this country, so these various models will apply well to socio-political discourses regarding where each fits in the typical American mind (i.e., small government gives rise to non-profits and NGOs, but American Dream and bootstrap ideal shift non-profit and state work to the individual which gives rise to social enterprises to empower people to help themselves).

4) Goode, Judith, and Jeff Maskovsky. The New Poverty Studies: the Ethnography of Power, Politics, and Impoverished People in the United States. New York Univ. Press, 2001.http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/Xnew+poverty+studies&searchscope=1&SORT=D/Xnew+poverty+studies&searchscope=1&SORT=D&SUBKEY=new+poverty+studies/1%2C1026%2C1026%2CB/frameset&FF=Xnew+poverty+studies&searchscope=1&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C

This source, too, could be used for either area or sector depending on how specifically it delves into location. It should help contextualize what poverty looks like for different people who have faced different life hurdles - or, as the Bread Project would call them - employment barriers. It appears that this book will touch on the various answers Katz explores to "What kind of a problem is poverty?" because there are sections on gender and class (people problem), economic and cultural reconstruction of low wage labor markets (political economy), and activism (power). I hope to carry these various lenses of interpreting and understanding poverty into my various projects in 105 this year to reference as a framework. This book should be informative in helping me analyze the Bread Project's effectiveness as well as the overall issues with community education that frames employability as the end-all solution to poverty.

5) Pavel, M. Paloma. Breakthrough Communities: Sustainability and Justice in the next American Metropolis. MIT Press, 2009.http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ/XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=Bay+Area+poverty/1%2C58%2C58%2CB/frameset&FF=XBay+Area+poverty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&15%2C15%2C

I aim to specifically focus on the section titled "A global perspective: community-driven solutions to urban poverty" will provide a global perspective that I can use to improve my sector article, Community Education, which was flagged for not representing a global view. I hope to also explore the section titled "Bridging the Bay: University/community collaborations in the San Francisco Bay Area." Again, depending on specific content (need to check out from library), this source could be used for area or sector. This should provide information as to what formal education at universities, which is often far out of reach for the low-income and/or those with employment barriers, actually provide to the communities which keep them afloat.

Summarizing and Synthesizing

Area: San Francisco Bay Area

In reading through my sources, I've found that adding a Poverty sub-section to the Economy section of the San Francisco Bay Area article will not be simple -- it cannot be limited to numbers and statistics about the poverty line because, as we've learned throughout GPP, income is not a holistic indicator of well-being. This is especially true in a place with such relatively high housing prices and incomes as the Bay Area. I've decided to incorporate more information about the specific communities that experience poverty, as well as how they participate in the economy (be it as contributors, beneficiaries, or both). The action (and inaction!) to support homeless and immigrant communities in the Bay Area have provided an excellent framework, because most organizations and policies are oriented at inclusion, but in a very particular way. From the state, noticeably, policy for inclusion has largely manifested as incorporation into the economy. From NGOs, however, it seems that inclusion has meant help transitioning into life in the United States beyond the workplace - that is, they're helping homeless and immigrants and assimilate into culture, schools, and housing in the Bay Area. Some key events I may touch on include the Cash-to-Care initiative in San Francisco, as well as the immigrant support institutions.

Here, begin to summarize and synthesize what you are beginning to learn from your sources. Here, don't tackle each source separately, but synthesize them. Aim to articulate key historical events and relevant public debate you're learning about (this is usually part of your area research, and also part of applying Fraser) and key debates/different approaches (usually part of your sector research) within which or vis-á-vis you might situate your PE org's approach.

Sector: Social Economy

The sources thus far have provided solid examples of social enterprises' hybrid forms within the legal and financial bounds of the United States laws and tax codes. It has shown where there is flexibility and where there is rigidity. On one hand, the 501(c)(3) tax exemption tax code is extremely strict in that all organizations fitting into this classification must justify the purposes of all its expenses, as well as demonstrate how this contributes to societal well-being. On the other hand, organizations can be for-profit yet still have social missions and goals that they put at the forefront of all operations and activities over profit (this is, in essence, the definition of a social enterprise). And yet, building social capital does not have to mean forfeiting monetary profit. This is something crucial missing from United States discourse in the article.

Drafting

Here, begin to draft sections to add to Wikipedia Article and be sure to add citations using citation tool.

Area

Despite the San Francisco Bay Area's booming technology industry contributing to the aforementioned economic growth, there also remains significant levels of poverty and homelessness in the region. In fact, rising housing prices and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area are largely framed as symptomatic of tech workers with disposable incomes move in to previously low-income, underserved neighborhoods. As of June 2014, median rent had increased to $2,300, or 21% in the span of a year. In Oakland, median price increased by one-third between 2011-2013. Two notable strategies to prevent eviction due to rising rents include rent control and subsidies such as Section 8 and Shelter Plus Care.

*Note: How to format citations when both are from the same source.