The political economy of healthcare access and Chicagoland health-oriented non-profit organizations

This paper analyzes how nonprofit organizations targeting Latine communities in the Chicago suburbs played a role in healthcare access during the COVID-19 pandemic through both political and material actions. Using mixed methods, this research explores the organizational and political infrastructural differences between Chicago and Chicago suburban nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) as they responded to the COVID-19 crisis. Data was collected through both interviews with CBO organizers, and spatial analysis of a database of nonprofit organizations in the Chicagoland area. The findings advance the concept of the infrastructure of civic institutions through finding that distance and differences in funding and collaboration amongst CBOs significantly impact the access of CBOs to structural supports to then provide for their communities. This analysis also includes the comparison of two CBOs to illustrate these geographic differences in funding and collaboration. These findings help demonstrate the need for a more collaborative and versatile design of community-based work, which moves away from the traditional nonprofit funding structure.