Academic Year 2018-19

· Winter-Spring 2019 · 

Totten · Downey

"Planning for Multimodal Transportation Corridors"

Friday, January 11, 2019 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

David Totten

David Totten, AICP, Transportation Planner, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission

Dominic D'Andrea, P.E., PTOE, Manager, Operations & Safety Programs, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission

"Governing without Government: Nonprofit Governance in Detroit and Flint"

Davia Downey

Friday, February 8th, 2019 • Noon to 1:15pm, 3911 Posvar Hall

Davia Downey, Ph.D., Associate Professor and the MPA Program Coordinator for the NASPAA accredited Masters of Public Administration program at Grand Valley State University in the School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration. Her research looks at the impacts of natural and man-made disasters on economic development in cities and states. She also dabbles in research on tax increment financing, the interplay of party capability theory cross-nationally, and exploring the interrelationships between nonprofit organizations and local governments as they navigate long-term collaborative partnerships.

Scholars across the social sciences have shown how economic, social, and political changes are weakening local governments and contributing to rising nonprofit activity in urban politics. These trends, largely studied in isolation, could add up to a new form of governing in some U.S. cities. This presentation explores the convergence of government austerity and a burgeoning nonprofit sector have created space for what we term “nonprofit governance.” In some cities, nonprofit leaders work as insiders to guide policy, often with limited input from elected officials or citizens. First, we apply insights from studies in comparative politics to demonstrate how nonprofit leadership expands in the context of a weak state. Second, we use empirical indicators of government capacity as well as nonprofit surveys to examine Detroit and Flint as potential cases of nonprofit governance. These cases allow us to trace the development of nonprofit governance and its consequences for public services and government capacity. This work was conducted with Sarah Reckhow of Michigan State University and Joshua Sapotichne.