Economic Development Projects--United States

This dissertation develops an approach and a model for assessing the effectiveness of faith-based and secular community development corporations (CDCs) in the provision of economic development and other services. This dissertation contends that faith-based and secular CDCs are essentially comparable entities whose characteristics and functions are virtually indistinguishable, thus to speak of organizational effectiveness of CDCs is sufficient to encompass both faith-based and secular CDCs. The study uses an empirical approach, directed by the literature, to discover the characteristics and functions of faith-based and secular CDCs, the extent to which they are involved in economic development activities, and to determine the key factors that are presumed to contribute to their effectiveness. A regression model is developed employing variables and data resulting from a survey of CDCs in the South Florida area to predict and explain the variance in the subjective rating of the perception of organizational effectiveness by executive directors and managers of CDCs in the study population. The study tests a number of hypotheses that are designed to explain the influence of certain variables on organizational effectiveness and discovers a number of factors that are statistically significant in influencing perceived effectiveness. It proposes future areas of research that build upon the current research and may lead to even better understanding of the factors influencing organizational effectiveness of CDCs.