Resource Allocation Across Urban and Rural Counties: A Tennessee Case Study

This study addresses how resource allocation of mobility-promoting organizations vary by characteristics of Tennessee counties. More specifically, I examine the variation of resources provided across urban and rural counties. Building on previous studies of mobility-promoting organizations, this study moves away from neighborhood analysis and updates to larger spatial units to a county level analysis. Including county-level data provides an opportunity to explore potential explanations for the observed regional variation in rates of poverty. Furthermore, this study analyzes aspects of disadvantage and organizational density. I utilize the Social Vulnerability Index and the Relative Rurality Index in combination with U.S. Census and U.S. Business Patterns data to describe Tennessee county deprivation characteristics. I categorize organizations into three service types: hardship, employment, and education; all of which are related to an individual’s well-being and prospects for mobility. My analyses use Poisson regression models to examine the association between counties’ characteristics and the number of mobility-promoting organizations, accounting for counties’ population sizes. Results: More urban counties tend to have a higher density of hardship and employment organizations, but not educational organizations, after controlling for social vulnerability