Immigration and community development in New York City

Community development corporations play a central role in the provision of affordable housing and social services in the contemporary American welfare state. This organizational form, however, emerged in the distinctive, historical political-economic context of the Black Power Movement and America's Great Society. American cities are now very different places, transformed by immigration from spaces of Black–White separation to much more heterogeneous and diverse spaces. In this article, our central question is whether, and how, these vital service organizations are incorporating immigrants into their work. We find that the answer varies, and such variations indicate differential access, or “differential citizenship”—in the urban structure of the contemporary American welfare state.