The 21st Century Cities Initiative (21CC) at Johns Hopkins University promotes the research of graduate students working toward a PhD degree with a 21CC Research Award for innovative dissertation research focusing on policy-relevant urban research that closely aligns with 21CC’s interest areas. This year, 21CC awarded 12 PhD students researching a variety of urban issues from immigration to education to healthy food to disaster relief in Baltimore City and cities across the globe. The awardees included Rachel Butler and Natalie Schock, two PhD students affiliated with The Poverty and Inequality Research Lab. 

Rachel Butler

Rachel is a sociology PhD student at Johns Hopkins University. She studies social inequality, focusing on race, criminal justice system contact, and family life. She received the 21CC award for the following research: 

A large body of research documents disparities in police surveillance, arrest, and use of force by neighborhood racial composition and concentrated disadvantage. Research also describes legal cynicism, institutional distrust, and dissatisfaction with the police among black Americans, particularly those living in areas of concentrated poverty. However, a largely unexplored topic is the demand for police services that arises in disadvantaged and predominantly black neighborhoods. Even after adjusting for crime levels, high rates of calls to police originate in majority-black, low-income neighborhoods. Why do we observe high rates of police utilization by members of communities most at risk of police over-attention and mistreatment? Despite the burgeoning literature on race, mass incarceration, and the racially disparate negative effects of the criminal justice system, we know very little about the ways in which residents of highly policed communities with high rates of incarceration utilize and rely upon that system. I will therefore use funds to interview 40 residents of low-income Baltimore neighborhoods about their experiences with police, including their views of police and police utilization. Exploring how citizen calls for service shape the ways in which police operate is a necessary and neglected area of research. A better understanding of the demand for police services that arises in disadvantaged Baltimore neighborhoods could benefit policymakers, police reform efforts, social service organizations, and ultimately Baltimore residents.

Natalie Schock 

Natalie is a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University School of Education. She studies early care and education, family engagement, and kindergarten readiness. Natalie is a Teach For America alum and previously taught third grade in the South Bronx. She received the 21CC award for the following research:

In recent years, access to early education programming has expanded in urban areas and beyond. Accompanying this expansion is the significance of early education teachers and schools in children’s social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Developmental theory suggests that children develop such functioning as they interact with the their home and school environments. In addition, the intersection of these environments—i.e., family engagement in school—plays a role. Though research suggests that family engagement in school is an important component of this development, relatively little work exists on the nuances therein. Thus, this dissertation seeks to explore associations between aspects of family engagement, including teachers’ perceptions of support from families, preschool environments, and children’s social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. To do so, it uses a racially and socioeconomically diverse population of preschoolers and their families and teachers from two urban areas in Ohio and Maryland.

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