This item has FREE SHIPPING to any address in NZ

NOTE: Item will ship from our US warehouse. A handling time of 2-4 business days applies for all orders. Delivery will then take 3-10 working days.

The Self-Help Myth: How Philanthropy Fails to Alleviate Poverty

Condition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780520283435 Author(s): Erica Kohl-Arenas Format: Hardcover Year: 2015 Publisher: University of California Press Dimensions: 140 x 213 x 23 (w x l x h) Pages: 260 Series: Poverty, Interrupted

BUYER OFFERS: We are a retail store with set pricing and unfortunately we can't fulfil any requests to sell items for less than the listed price.

Description: Can philanthropy alleviate inequality? Do antipoverty programs work on the ground? In this eye-opening analysis, Erica Kohl-Arenas bores deeply into how these issues play out in California's Central Valley, which is one of the wealthiest agricultural production regions in the world and also home to the poorest people in the United States. Through the lens of a provocative set of case studies, The Self-Help Myth reveals how philanthropy maintains systems of inequality by attracting attention to the behavior of poor people while shifting the focus away from structural inequities and relationships of power that produce poverty. In Fresno County, for example, which has a $5.6 billion-plus agricultural industry, migrant farm workers depend heavily on food banks, religious organizations, and family networks to feed and clothe their families. Foundation professionals espouse well-intentioned, hopeful strategies to improve the lives of the poor. These strategies contain specific ideas-in philanthropy terminology, 'theories of change'- that rely on traditional American ideals of individualism and hard work, such as self-help, civic participation, and mutual prosperity. But when used in partnership with well-defined limits around what foundations will and will not fund, these ideals become fuzzy concepts promoting professional and institutional behaviors that leave rel