Russel Sage Foundation

In recent years, RSF has dramatically increased the number of grants devoted to qualitative research. Between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2022, 66 grants have used qualitative methods as the sole or key component of the projects’ analytical strategy, and an additional 35 projects have used mixed methods. During this period, qualitative projects represented about 11 percent of all grants funded, and 17 percent when mixed-methods projects are included. Seven Pipeline Grants were funded in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Grantees include anthropologists, criminologists, historians, public policy scholars, social work scholars, and sociologists.

Grantees employing qualitative research methods have examined topics such as the effects of immigration policies and enforcement for immigrant integration and wellbeing, policing and the criminal justice system, the intersection of housing and racial inequalities in wealth, low-wage workers, and the effects of poverty reduction on child development.

To date, these grants have resulted in over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including six in RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, six books or book chapters, including two published by RSF, nine working papers, and four briefs/reports. There are also several book manuscripts in progress and journal submissions under review.

Below we present these grant details for the qualitative research projects: authors, titles, program, grant period, amount, abstract, and publications and work in progress, when available. Below we present these grant details for the mixed-methods research project: authors, titles, program, grant period, and amount. Grants are presented in reverse chronological order.

Sarah Halpern-Meekin, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Baby’s First Years: Mothers’ Voices (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 6/1/2022-5/31/2024; $166,385)
Abstract: The Baby’s First Years (BFY) qualitative study seeks to better understand how the increased money matters within families; how mothers view the BFY monthly payments, why they allocate it as they do, and how they fit in the larger financial context and parenting values shaping families’ lives.

James Thomas, University of Mississippi. Whiteness in Crisis? (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 4/1/2022-3/31/2024; $135,293)
Abstract: This research centers the economic, political, and social transformations of the new century, their relationships with whites’ ongoing racial formation, and the relationship between whites’ racial formation and place. Thomas will conduct in-depth qualitative interviews to examine how white southerners between the ages of 18 and 35 understand the racial hierarchy and their place within it. It asks (1) how, in an era where whites’ dominant status is increasingly scrutinized, are white southerners making sense of their dominant racial group status? and, (2) what are the contexts and experiences that they draw upon when making sense of their status?

Rachel Nolan, Boston University. The Returned: Deportation as Migration at the Personal, Family, and National Scale (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 4/1/2022- 3/31/2024; $46,377)
Abstract: Over the last century, the U.S. has deported over 56 million people, most of them to Latin America. This project will follow three threads: “Operation Wetback” removals to Mexico on deportation ships, Drug War related deportations to the Dominican Republic, and the ongoing deportations of asylum-seekers to Guatemala and El Salvador. This research will ask: What were the long-term effects of forced migration back to Latin America? How did these removals affect perceptions of the U.S. and of deportees themselves and shape family and next-generation decisions about migration and return? What caused deportees to re-integrate into their home countries, or to attempt to re-enter the U.S.?

Sandra Smith, Harvard University. Why Prosecuting Nonviolent, Misdemeanor Offenses Yields Poorer Outcomes (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 1/1/2022-12/31/2023; $143,341)
Abstract: Recent research finds that the prosecution of nonviolent, misdemeanor offenses appear to do significantly more harm to public safety than good. What is it about prosecution of nonviolent, misdemeanor offenses that increases the risk of future penal system involvement, especially among first time defendants? And what are the downstream effects for marginal defendants of having cases prosecuted? The project will conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a stratified, random sample of 150 non-violent, misdemeanor defendants at the margins—75 who were prosecuted and 75 who were not—contrasting the experiences and trajectories of otherwise similar misdemeanor defendants whose cases were dismissed, diverted, or declined at arraignment with defendants held for further processing.

Samantha Simon, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Learning Lethal Force: Police Firearms Training and Evaluation (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 1/1/2022-12/31/2023; $39,302)
Abstract: The many recent police killings have re-ignited public debates about how, when, and why the police should use lethal force. At the same time, police departments have acquired virtual simulation systems to train officers in tactics. I will conduct an ethnography of police firearms training to answer these questions: (1) How are police officers trained to use firearms? (2) How is virtual simulation technology shaping this training? (3) How do ideologies of race and gender structure the way that lethal force is conceptualized and taught? I will examine how police officers are trained to use guns, how technology is shaping this training, and in what ways conceptions of gender and race inform this process.

Daisy Reyes, University of California, Merced. How College-Graduate Latinx Millennials Are Faring After the COVID-19 Pandemic (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 1/1/2022-12/31/2023; $47,574)
Abstract: First-generation college-going millennial Latinx students from low and middle- income families continued to attend college and graduate in hopes of achieving mobility during and after the Great Recession. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit disproportionately affecting Latinx communities. How has the COVID pandemic affected the mobility trajectories of Latinx millennial college graduates many of whom were already struggling with student loan burdens, rising costs of housing, and providing monetary transfers to their parents? I will conduct follow up interviews with 61 Latinx millennial college graduates to explore how their tenuous economic mobility was affected by the pandemic.

Asad Asad, Stanford University. Precarious Citizenship: How Judges Make Denaturalization Decisions (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 12/1/2021- 11/30/2023; $50,000)
Abstract: Denaturalization, the process of removing an immigrant’s acquired citizenship, offers a window into the judiciary’s role in federal immigration enforcement. Since the 1990s, different presidential administrations have relied on denaturalization as an enforcement tool. Federal judges oversee this process and, except in the case of jury trials, independently decide whether to revoke immigrants’ citizenship. Yet, little is known about how judges understand their role. This research draws on in-depth interviews with federal judges to examine whether and how they think about denaturalization and what, if anything, they do to enable or constrain the process.

Carolina Valdivia, University of California, Irvine. Family Reunification in the U.S. Post-Deportation (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 10/1/2021-9/30/2023; $38,110)
Abstract: This qualitative study examines the consequences of immigration enforcement through the lens of individuals who have returned undetected to the U.S. post-deportation and their families. I address these questions: (1) What factors inform families’ decisions to reunite in the U.S. post-deportation? (2) What challenges and resources do families encounter during the reunification process? (3) What are the everyday experiences of these families? (4) How do these circumstances impact and are shaped by important aspects of family life, as well as families’ participation across various social institutions? I plan to conduct 80 in-depth interviews with members of 40 families where at least one person has returned undetected post-deportation. I will also interview 20 individuals who work with this population (e.g., church and organizational leaders, lawyers, educators).

Jonathan Morduch, New York University. Guaranteed Income: A qualitative assessment of a large experiment in Compton (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 9/1/2021-8/31/2023; $131,115)
Abstract: Compton, California recently launched a city-based guaranteed income pilot that aims to reduce racial and ethnic inequalities through unconditional transfers. This study involves a qualitative assessment of the program, integrated with a 2000-person RCT (outside the current proposal) that examines how the program shapes economic and social relationships, possibly spilling over to the broader community, and how transfers shape (or complicate) financial security. The study centers on 36 individuals to be interviewed regularly over 2 years.

Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Work in the Time of COVID-19, A Panel Study on Precarious Workers (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 8/1/2021-7/31/2023; $49,940)
Abstract: Traditionally, those with fewer resources are not able to prepare for natural disasters and are less able to recover from them. This project is the third phase of a mixed-methods panel study that utilizes in-depth interviews and surveys with 200 precarious and gig workers in New York City. This project examines the impact of the pandemic in exacerbating the existing vulnerability of precarious workers and analyzes the social, physical, and economic impact of the pandemic on precarious workers during the outbreak.

Amarat Zaatut, Temple University. An Examination of the Integration Experiences of Muslim Refugees in Traditional and Non-Traditional Immigrant Destinations (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2021-6/30/2023; $126,225)
Abstract: This study examines the ways in which anti-Islamic sentiment, rhetoric, and policies against Muslims, shape the integration and assimilation experiences of Muslim refugees. This study focuses on a traditional and a new immigrant destination that vary in their level of urbanicity, racial-ethnic heterogeneity, and receptivity to immigrants. Utilizing a comparative research design and with unique access to Muslim refugees, this study aims to explore the social, cultural, and psychological processes underlying individual and collective identity formation among Muslim refugees and to shed light on how macro-social policies of inclusion/exclusion intersect with local context and personal experience to shape patterns of integration.

Marci Ybarra, University of Chicago. Before and After COVID-19: The Wellbeing of Racialized and Immigrant Chicagoans (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 7/1/2021-6/30/2022; $34,736)
Abstract: We seek to analyze two waves of interviews with 196 marginalized Chicagoans, including undocumented immigrants and low-income Black and Latinx citizens. This will allow us to provide evidence to key stakeholders on the impact of the pandemic among the most affected groups, offer critical and timely guidance to stem the spread of COVID-19, and identify interventions to address the pandemic’s adverse socioeconomic effects.

Spencer Headworth, Purdue University. The Repo Pandemic: Cars, Collections, and the Socioeconomic Fallout of COVID-19 (Programs: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2021-06/30/2022; $21,500)
Abstract: Repossessions are the formal mechanism through which creditors seize private automobiles. Vehicles typically constitute households’ most valuable piece of movable property, and in most parts of the country, they are essential to households’ income-earning capacity. This constitutes a paradox: when people do not pay their bills, their vehicles are repossessed, which in turn creates a new obstacle to financial solvency. Drawing on ethnographic observations of repossession agents at work and interviews with both repossession agents and repossession targets, it will answer these questions: (1) How are new technologies shaping repossession? (2) How does repossession affect present and future socioeconomic disadvantage? (3) What can vehicle repossession teach us about the socioeconomic fallout of the pandemic, and how can those findings inform our preparations for and responses to future crises?

Alford Young, Jr., University of Michigan. The Dignity of Fragile Essential Work in a Pandemic: Perspectives of African American Employees on Race, Respect, and Relations at Work (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2023; $121,402)
Abstract: We will interview food service workers, gig drivers, grocery and retail workers, and health care assistants. Our focus is on employees who were identified as essential workers, but who lack the credentials, certifications, and educational backgrounds of essential workers in white-collar occupations. We will explore and assess their value orientation to their work and what they consider to be the social utility of their work. This project involves a subjective exploration of the meaning attached to these forms of work.

Heather Schoenfeld, Boston University. 21st Century Justice: The Struggle to Decarcerate in the U.S. States (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 6/1/2021- 5/31/2022; $35,000)
Abstract: This project examines what political and social factors contribute to policy changes that would reduce incarceration. The project seeks to understand why some reform efforts succeed; who gets included and excluded in the reform process; and why lawmakers support only certain policy solutions. The project uses a matched-pair comparative research design that compares case studies of criminal justice reform efforts from 2000 to 2020 in three pairs of states (six states total). Data for each case study, include newspaper articles, legislative material, official records, and interviews.

Leah Schmalzbauer, Amherst College. Disrupted Mobility? An Ethnographic Exploration of Covid-19’s Experiential Impact on Upwardly Mobile Latinx Youth and their Families (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 12/1/2020-8/31/2022; $50,000)
Abstract: Low-income Latinx families have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. I am interested in studying the implications of Covid-19 for low-income second-generation youth who are studying at, or recently graduated from, selective colleges. These youths have been positioned to achieve high-status jobs, while their parents work in low-wage, precarious sectors. Drawing from ethnography, interviews, and time diaries, I will explore these questions: How is Covid-19 impacting the mobility pathways of Latinx youth who are attending or have recently graduated from an elite college? How are they navigating the relationship between their individual goals and plans and their responsibilities and roles within their families?

Devyn Benson, Davidson College. Black Migration in a White City: Power, Privilege, and Exclusion in Cuban America (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 10/1/2020-9/30/2022; $50,000)
Abstract: Our project analyzes original oral histories, census, and archival data from Afro- Cubans in the U.S. to examine the different socioeconomic status, educational trajectories, political attitudes, and voting behaviors of black Cubans who have been excluded from the white Cuban enclave in South Florida. Black Cubans are less likely to own homes, build savings in their bank accounts and have a lower net worth when compared to whites. We map the racial exclusion of black Cubans, while highlighting how they resist, cope with, experience and sometimes fail to overcome these challenges. Doing so demonstrates the importance of studying race in Latino politics and history and contributes to conversations about intra-Latino racism, whiteness and anti-black policies that lead to urban segregation and exclusion.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Benson, Devyon and Danielle Clealand, 2021, “Re-Narrating Mariel: Black Cubans, Racial Exclusion, and Building Community in Miami.” , 17 (2): 6-23. DOI: http://doi.org/10.33596/anth.462.

Danya Keene, Yale University. Informal Housing Provision, Health, and Inequality (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 10/1/2020-9/30/2021; $34,745)
Abstract: The US faces a severe affordable housing shortage that has implications for population health. While the literature has focused on how an individual’s housing affects their own health, limited housing may also affect health and wellbeing of network members who house those who are locked out of housing opportunities. Little is known about the experiences of these informal housing providers. We draw on an existing study of low-income adults (N=400) to identify and interview informal housing providers. Our aims are to: 1) characterize the experiences of informal housing providers 2) identify mechanisms that connect the provision of informal housing to health and wellbeing 3) explore relationships between informal housing provision and race and gender-based inequalities in housing and health.

Katharine Donato, Georgetown University. The Assimilation Experiences of Unaccompanied Migrant and Orphaned Children (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2020-6/30/2022; $155,503)
Abstract: Most studies of immigrant and refugee integration often overlook the experiences of adults who initially entered the U.S as migrant and refugee children without parents and/or other relatives. We will collect and analyze interview data about the integration experiences of these adults to understand how they complete their education, begin to work, obtain financial independence, form relationships through dating and/or marriage, and have children. We also seek to understand how different periods of entry and contexts of reception are associated with these outcomes.

Irene Browne, Emory University. The Effect of Immigration Policy on Middle-class Latino/a Immigrants (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 5/1/2020- 4/30/2023; $36,218)
Abstract: We will investigate the social mobility trajectories of authorized middle-class Latino/a immigrants and the forces that shape those trajectories. Our project investigates whether and under what conditions a hostile climate of reception affects authorized. We plan to re-interview middle-class Dominican and Mexican immigrant parents in Atlanta who we interviewed in a previous project, and interview new respondents. We will target self-employed individuals in our supplemental sample, particularly Mexican and Dominican restaurant owners, and Dominican hair salon owners.

Karen Levy, Cornell University. Case Studies in the Governance of Automated Decision- Making (Program: Computational Social Science; Grant Period: 4/1/2020-3/31/2022; $170,554) Abstract: We propose qualitative case studies of the governance structures that control two well-established algorithmic systems: kidney allocation and civil discovery. Automated decision- making these contexts is subject to a complex set of rules, emerging from long-term processes involving diverse public and private stakeholders. Each involves high-stakes decision-making in contexts backed by strong normative and legal frameworks. We will synthesize our accounts of these governance structures, aiming to identify useful parallels to contemporary debates over AI regulation.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Levy, Karen and Fernando A. Delgado. 2021. “A Community-Centered Research Agenda for AI Innovation Policy.” Cornell Policy Review, 1-9.
• Delgado, Fernando A. Day One Project: A National Program for Building Artificial Intelligence within Communities. Washington D.C.: Federation of American Scientists, 2021.
• Delgado, Fernando A., Solon Barocas, and Karen Levy. “An Uncommon Task: Participatory Design in Legal AI.” Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer- Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Article 51. (working paper)
• Matthew J. Salganik, Ian Lundberg, Alexander T. Kindel, [100 mass collaboration participants], Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Barbara E. Engelhardt, Moritz Hardt, Dean Knox, Karen Levy, Arvind Narayanan, Brandon M. Stewart, Duncan J. Watts, and Sara McLanahan, 2020, “Measuring the Predictability of Life Outcomes with A Scientific Mass Collaboration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(15): 8398– 8403.

T. Elizabeth Durden, Bucknell University. Linking Electronic Health Records and In-depth Interviews to Uncover Barriers to Social Mobility and Health in a Declining Coal Mining Community (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 4/1/2020- 3/31/2023; $150,207)
Abstract: This study links in-depth interviews with low-income white, Black, and Latina women in rural Pennsylvania to their electronic health records to better understand the relationship among poverty, health, and social mobility. Making novel connections across in-depth interviews and Geisinger medical record data, we uncover the economic, social, and cultural barriers that drive physical and psychological distress among low-income women, while situating these accounts within formal medical diagnoses, treatment plans, and physician’s notes. Stage 1 of this research project resulted in 13 completed interviews with white rural women (2017-18) with an additional 27 white women to be interviewed over the summer of 2019. The proposed research will add 40 non-white participants.

Madonna Harrington Meyer, Syracuse University. Hunger SNAPs: Food Insecurity among Older Adults (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 4/1/2020- 3/31/2023; $48,191)
Abstract: This qualitative project takes an ecological approach that emphasizes interpersonal, institutional, community, and sociopolitical factors. We will collect and analyze qualitative data from 50 in-depth interviews. The sample will emphasize diversity by gender, race, marital status, household composition, state of residence and other factors – not representativeness. The results will shed light on the multi-faceted, multi-directional factors that shape, and are shaped by, food insecurity in old age.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Harrington Meyer, Madonna, Sarah Reilly, and Julia Finan. 2021. “The U.S. Should Expand Access to Dental Care for Older Adults,” Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion: Population Health Research Brief Series. 161. https://surface.syr.edu/lerner/161/

Nilda Flores-Gonzalez, Arizona State University. The Arizona Youth Project: (Re)defining National Belonging (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 3/1/2020- 8/31/2022; $161,501)
Abstract: Our project examines how 18–25-year-old U.S.-born Latinx, Native American, and white youths in Arizona make sense of themselves and others as Americans in an increasingly nativist context. We analyze how nativist discourses, policies and practices affect diverse U.S- born youth’s sense of belonging, and how they reimagine, reclaim, rearticulate, and reconstitute national belonging. We selected five counties in Arizona that contain significant white, Latinx and Native American populations living in different contexts. Our qualitative study includes in- depth interviews with youth and a subsample of parents, and “mini-ethnographies” of a sample of youth-led organizations to examine the familial and community contexts that shape identity formation and civic and political engagement.

Rachel Allison, Mississippi State University. First Comes Marriage: Educational and Workforce Trajectories of the Early Married in Mississippi (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 2/1/2020-1/31/2023; $49,716)
Abstract: Growing economic inequality has generated a greater diversity of family formation pathways among young adults and has stratified trajectories by race, socioeconomic status, and geography. The “diverging destinies” of young adults has neglected those in the rural South, where early marriage is most common. I ask how early marriage among a diverse group of 18- to 23-year-old students attending either a community college or university in Mississippi shapes educational and work experiences by their lives over five years through qualitative interviews. I include both engaged and married students (N= 45) and a comparison sample of same-aged peers attending the same schools, but who are not engaged or married (N= 24). Wave 1 interviews with the full sample were completed in 2017-2018 and the study is ongoing.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Levy, Karen and Fernando A. Delgado. 2
• Allison, Rachel. “Why Wait?”: Early Marriage Among Mississippi College Students.” (working paper)

Joanna Dreby and Eunju Lee, State University of New York, Albany. The aftermath of immigration enforcement episodes: an exploration of the impacts on young adults (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 12/1/2019-11/30/2022; $100,009)
Abstract: This project documents the impacts of immigration enforcement on young adults. Given the trauma associated with deportation and detention, enforcement episodes are barriers to the integration of youth in immigrant origin families. In-depth interviews, paired with questionnaires, with 40-60 young adults who had a parent arrested, detained, or deported due to immigration violations while under age 18 will explore how they understand enforcement to have shaped their (1) resiliency, (2) relationships, (3) education and (4) emotional wellbeing. Analyzing variations by type of enforcement episode, and triangulating quantifiable measures with narratives, will identify what about these episodes augment—or mitigate—immigration related trauma, as well as the types of social support that foster resiliency.

Erika Kitzmiller, Barnard College. Youth Perspectives on Poverty, Inequality, and Opportunity in Rural and Urban America (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 12/1/2019-11/30/2021; $49,256)
Abstract: This ethnographic book project seeks to understand the perspectives that youth have about poverty, inequality, and opportunity in three Pennsylvania counties. The work will examine how youth from different racial, gender, and class categories understand poverty, inequality, and opportunity in their lives and communities and the role that they believe their government should play in addressing these challenges. Young people, and low-income young people, in particular, are playing a renewed role in the political conversation. Knowing how they understand their conditions in the current political climate and what they see as the role of government in reducing poverty and inequality is significant.

Publications (and work in progress):

• RSF book manuscript, Youth Inequality, Poverty, and Opportunity in Rural and Urban America.

Sarah Bowen and Annie Hardison-Moody, North Carolina State University, and Sinikka Elliott, University of British Columbia. Understanding and Addressing the Roots of Child Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Longitudinal Analysis (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2022; $175,000)
Abstract: Analyzing data collected over a five-year period with 124 mother-child dyads in low- income households in North Carolina, this project contributes to a better understanding of the processes that drive child and household food insecurity. First, it investigates how food insecurity and children’s wellbeing are linked over time to broader factors and processes like economic inequality, parental and child stress, social support, and neighborhood environments. Second, by allowing a diverse sample of parents and children to report directly on their experiences with food insecurity, it helps identify similarities and differences in parents’ and children’s perceptions, and how different household members experience and cope with food insecurity.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Bowen, Sarah, Sinikka Elliott and Annie Hardison-Moody. 2021. “The Structural Roots of Food Insecurity: How Racism is a Fundamental Cause of Food Insecurity.” Sociology Compass. 15(7): 1-23. DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12846
• Bowen, Sarah, Sinikka Elliott and Annie Hardison-Moody. “How Families Cope with Food Insecurity in the Rural South.” In Families, Food, and Parenting: Integrating Research, Practice and Policy, edited by Lori A. Francis, Susan M. McHale, Valarie King, and Jennifer E. Glick, 39-57. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2021.
• Elliot, Sinnikka, Sierra J. Satterfield, G. Solorzano, Sarah Bowen, Annie Hardison- Moody, and Latasha Williams. 2021. “Disenfranchised: How Lower Income Mothers Navigated the Social Safety Net During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. 7 (1): 1-18. DOI: 10.1177/23780231211031690

Rocío Calvo, Boston College, and Mary Waters, Harvard University. How Social Protection Policies and Institutions Contribute to Older Immigrants’ Sense of Belonging to America (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2021; $174,423)
Abstract: This study explores how older Latino immigrants navigate the system of social support, and how interactions with providers of services shape their American identity. Drawing on in-depth interviews with older Latino immigrants and with key providers of services, we investigate how older immigrants find social services in Boston, Austin, and Miami. We anticipate that non-entitled immigrants will feel more welcomed in their interactions with providers of age services in Boston than in Austin and Miami.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Calvo, Rocío, 2020, “Older Latinx Immigrants and COVID-19: A Call to Action,” Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 63(6-7): 592-594.

Karen Tejada, University of Hartford. Putting them on ICE: Policing Salvadoran Communities on Long Island (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2022; $101,472)
Abstract: This study examines how Salvadoran migrants on Long Island are impacted by the criminalization practices of local police when these entities cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We collect community data and police data to explore: 1) the effects that local police and ICE cooperation have on Salvadorans on Long Island; 2) how Salvadoran families respond to local police when ICE is involved; and 3) the ways in which non- profit organizations mediate community-policing relations.

Sarah Halpern-Meekin, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Disconnected men: The Intersection of Work and Family (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2022; $47,507)
Abstract: We will study the relationship between labor force participation and family dynamics by conducting in-depth interviews with prime-age men who are out of the labor force and live in non-metropolitan areas. This study allows us to understand how work and family life interact for disconnected men.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Halpern-Meekin, Sarah. “Disconnected Men: Understanding Men’s Joint Roles as Workers and Romantic Partners.” Under review at Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Science. “Low-Income Families in the 21st Century.”

Kristin Seefeldt, University of Michigan. Helping Across Generations: A Qualitative Study of Retirement Challenges among Unionized Workers (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2022; $43,223)
Abstract: How have labor market changes affected the retirement prospects of those who have held “good” middle class jobs? How do the current realities and the future of work affect older generations? Are retirees with access to Social Security and pensions able to enjoy their post- work years, or are they serving as a private safety net for family members struggling in today’s economy? This study addresses these questions by investigating the ways that middle to older- aged adults provide help (both financial and practical) to their adult children and extended kin and the consequences of providing that help on relationships and retirement wellbeing. The project will conduct a second round of interviews with workers and retirees from unionized jobs, such as auto manufacturing and the civil service.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Seefeldt, S. Kristin, Fredrick F. Wherry and Anthony S. Alvarez. 2019. “To Lend or Not to Lend to Friends and Kin: Awkwardness, Obfuscation, and Negative Reciprocity.” Social Forces 98(2): 753-755. DOI: 10.1093/sf/soy127

Anna Rhodes and Max Besbris, Rice University. The Consequences of Ecological Disaster on Social Mobility and Economic Security (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 4/1/2019-3/31/2020; $34,971; Supplemental: $18,468)
Abstract: Hurricane Harvey in 2017 underscored widespread vulnerability to the effects of environment-related disasters. While low-income households remain the most vulnerable, climate change is increasingly affecting middle-class and affluent communities. Through longitudinal interviews with 59 flooded households over the period of one year from Hurricane Harvey, and observations of community events and interviews with city and federal officials, this study examines how disasters may increase economic vulnerability, downward mobility, and inequality among households in a middle-class community.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Rhodes, Anna and Max Besbris. 2021. “Best Laid Plans: How the Middle-Class Make Residential Decisions Post-Disaster.” Social Problems spab026. DOI: 10.1093/socpro/spab026

Corey Fields, Georgetown University. Black in Business: African-American Advertising Professionals and the Commodification of Black Identity (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 2/1/2019-1/31/2022; $45,821)
Abstract: By examining the formation and expression of racial identity among African American advertising professionals, the project asks what happens to the personal and cultural meanings of blackness when it operates not only as part of personal identity, but also professional identity. Drawing on ethnographic observation and interviews, the project illuminates how black racial identity is constructed and maintained as both a personal and a professional resource, as well as how the work of black advertising professionals challenge and reinforce the broader cultural meanings of blackness.

Judith Levine, Temple University. Landing a Job: Moving from College to Employment in the New Economy (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 12/1/2018-8/31/2022; $49,354; Supplemental: $33,622)
Abstract: Why do some college seniors make smooth transitions into the labor market while others flounder? This longitudinal qualitative study will examine how students find jobs (or graduate programs) after college. It will investigate class, race, and gender variation in students’ career aspirations and access to economic, cultural, and social capital. It will conduct in-depth interviews with 84 students at a public university in their senior year and the year after graduation and observations with a sub-sample.

Susan Lambert, University of Chicago, and Anna Haley, Rutgers University, Newark. The Implementation of Scheduling Legislation by Frontline Business Managers: Regulatory, Firm, and Manager Influences (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 7/1/2018-9/30/2022; $43,422)
Abstract: This study will examine how firms’ dependence on flexible labor and distinct attributes of policy design help explain variation in the implementation of regulations governing scheduling practices in hourly jobs. The role that cost-focused business models play in industries targeted by new scheduling legislation raises concerns that laws may fall short of delivering the standards they define. We employ an in-depth, case study approach that compares frontline managers’ scheduling practices in the same retail and fast food chains across municipalities that vary in regulatory context (regulated and unregulated Seattle and regulated New York).

Publications (and work in progress):

• Lambert, Susan, Julia R. Henly, and Michael Schoeny, 2019, “Increasing Schedule Predictability in Hourly Jobs: Results From a Randomized Experiment in a US Retail Firm,” Work and Occupations, 46 (2): 176-226.
• Lambert, Susan, Julia R. Henly, and Jaeseung Kim, 2019, “Precarious Work Schedules as a Source of Economic Insecurity and Institutional Distrust,” Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 5 (4): 218-257.

Anita Zuberi, Duquesne University. The Other Side of the Story: Exploring the Experiences of Landlords in Order to Improve Housing Opportunity for Low-Income Households (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2018-6/30/2022; $17,088)
Abstract: This project analyzes 29 qualitative interviews with Pittsburgh landlords to 1) gain a deeper understanding of how landlords make meaning of their role; 2) detail the tools landlords use with tenants (i.e., screening, eviction); and 3) evaluate the experience of landlords working with the Housing Choice Voucher program. These findings contribute to the literature on housing policy for low-income households, which is largely drawn from the tenant’s perspective.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Zuberi, Anita, 2019, “The Other Side of the Story: Exploring the Experiences of Landlords in Order to Improve Housing Opportunity for Low-Income Households,” NYU Furman Center Colloquium Paper.

Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania. Wealth as a Family Affair (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 6/1/2018-5/31/2022; $50,000)
Abstract: In an era of growing inequality, a small number of elite families control a significant portion of the wealth, but we have few studies of wealthy families. This project involves in-depth interviews with 72 white and African-American families whose net worth of $10 million or more places them in the top 1%. It seeks to understand the social and cultural factors involved in the maintenance of wealthy families’ position across generations, the ways in which their actions facilitate the persistence of concentrated wealth, and the positive and negative experiences wealthy family members incur as they participate in family activities. The study includes families with inherited wealth and families where the wealth was earned.

Hana Shepherd and Janice Fine, Rutgers University. Understanding Local Labor Law Enforcement: A Comparative Organizational Study of City Labor Standards Enforcement Offices (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 4/1/2018-3/31/2023; $148,395)
Abstract: Using a comparative study of five local agencies of labor standards enforcement, we contribute an organizational perspective on labor law enforcement. We a) assess variation in local enforcement practices, b) examine the local legal, political, organizational, cultural, and labor market conditions that shape these practices, and c) use standards from research and practices pioneered at the federal and state level to provide guidelines for local enforcement practices. Interviews and observations over two years, administrative data, and archival data, provide the evidence for this project.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Shepherd, Hana and Idit Fast. 2022. “Administering New Anti-Bullying Law: The Organizational Field and School Variation During Initial Implementation.” Law & Society: 1-27.
• Shepherd, Hana and Adam Reich, 2021. “Toll of Turnover: Network Instability, Well- Being, and Academic Effort in 56 Middle Schools.” Sociological Science 7: 663-691.
• Shepherd, Hana and Laura M. Callejas, 2020. “Conflict as a Social Status Mobility Mechanism in Schools: A Network Approach.” Social Psychology Quarterly 83(4): 319- 341.
• Shepherd, Hana and Jeffrey Lane. 2019. “In the Mix: Social Integration and Social Media Adoption.” Social Science Research 82: 1-17.
• Shepherd, Hana and Janice Fine. Business Power and the Turn Toward the Local in Employment Standards Policy and Enforcement. Economic Policy Institute: The Unequal Project, working paper: https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/publications/#political- science.

Shannon Gleeson and Kati Griffith, Cornell University. Temporary Immigration Status, Race and Workplace Precarity (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 3/1/2018-2/28/2020; $30,242)
Abstract: Immigration status is a source of worker precarity that shapes labor market entry, working conditions and workers’ propensity to make claims against their employers when faced with workplace rights abuses. This project highlights the experience of workers with temporary immigration status (beyond guest workers) and focuses on not only how immigration status affects workplace outcomes, but also how it intersects with factors such as race/national origin and local political context.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Griffith, Kati, and Shannon Gleeson, 2017, “The Precarity of Temporality: How Law Inhibits Immigrant Worker Claims,” Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal (special issue on “Migrant Workers,” edited by Judy Fudge), 39 (1): 111-141.
• Griffith, Kati, and Shannon Gleeson. 2019. “Trump’s ‘Immployment’ Law Agenda: Intensifying Employment-Based Enforcement and Un-authoring the Authorized.” Southwestern Law Review 48(1): 475-501.
• Gleeson, Shannon and Kati Griffith. Workers with Temporary Protected Status: The Value and Limits of Delinking Immigration and Employment Status. in 21 Century Coolies (edited by Robyn Rodriguez and Leticia Saucedo) (forthcoming 2020).
• Gleeson, Shannon and Kati Griffith. 2020. “Employers as Subjects of the Immigration State: How the State Foments Employment Insecurity for Temporary Immigrant Workers.” Law & Social Inquiry 46(1): 92-115.
• Griffith, Kati, Shannon Gleeson, and Vivian Vazquez. “Immigrants in Shifting Times on Long Island, NY: The Stakes of Losing Temporary Status.” Denver Law Review 97(4): 743-759.
• Gleeson, Shannon and Kati Griffith. 2021. “Employers as Subjects of the Immigration State: How the State Foments Employment Insecurity for Temporary Immigrant Workers.” Law and Social Inquiry 46(1): 92-115.

Amanda Freeman, University of Hartford, and Autumn Green, Endicott College. Surviving and Striving: Low-Income Parents’ Pursuit of Higher Education as a Path Out of Poverty (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 11/1/2017-10/31/2019; $29,617)
Abstract: The co-PIs will merge qualitative datasets including experiential and institutional/policy data on experiences of low-income mothers who pursue higher education. The study will analyze issues of educational access and equity, and mechanisms that impede low-income mothers from college access and degree completion. Primary data include in-depth interviews, research diaries, and ethnographic observations. Secondary data explore the policies which shape and constrain opportunities for these students.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Freeman, Amanda. “The Winding Path to a Degree: Obstacles to Higher Education for Low-Income Single Mothers.” Journal of Higher Education (submitted).

Tomás Jiménez, Stanford University, Deborah Schildkraut, Tufts University, Yuen Huo, University of California, Los Angeles, and John Dovidio, Yale University. Sub-Federal Immigration Policy and Belonging (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 6/20/2017-6/30/2019; $49,977)
Abstract: We extend research on how sub-national policy approaches to immigration in Arizona (where unwelcoming immigration policies prevail) and New Mexico (where welcoming immigration polices prevail) affect attitudes about belonging and evaluations of ethnoracial outgroups among non-Hispanic whites (U.S.-born citizens) and Latinos (both U.S.-born and non- U.S.-born, citizens and noncitizens). We will gather in-depth interviews with individuals from these three groups to complement and extend findings from the quantitative research.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Schildkraut, Deborah J., Tomas R. Jimenez, John F. Dovidio, and Yuen J. Huo. 2019. “A Tale of Two States: How State Immigration Climate Affects Belonging to State and Country Among Latinos.” Social Problems 66(3): 332-355. DOI: 10.1093/socpro/spy008
• Huo, Yuen, John Dovidio, Tomas Jimenez, and Deborah J. Schildkraut. 2018. “Not Just a National Issue: Effect of State-Level Reception of Immigrants and Population Changes on Intergroup Attitudes of Whites, Latinos, and Asians in the United States.” Journal of Social Issues 74(4): 716-736. DOI: 10.1111/josi.12295
• Huo, Yuen, John f. Dovidio, Tomas R. Jimenez, and Deborah J. Schildkraut. 2018. “Local Policy Proposals Can Bridge Latino and (most) White Americans’ Response to Immigration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(5): 945-950.
• Hainmueller, Jens, Duncan Lawrence, Linna Marten, Bernard Black, Lucila Figueroa, Michael Hotard, Tomas R. Jimenez, Fernando Mendoza, Maria Rodriguez, Jonas J. Swartz, and David d. Laitin. 2017. “Protecting Unauthorized Immigrant Mothers Improves Their Children’s Mental Health.” Science 357(6355): 1041-1044.

Robert Smith, The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Long-Term Effects of Legal Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Across Legal Status and Institutional Ecosystems (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 12/1/2016-8/31/2019; $149,842)
Abstract: We study the effects of having, lacking and gaining or losing legal status (especially Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA,) on life chances, across legal status and institutional ecosystems. DACA creates “category changers” whose trajectories can be compared to those with/without status to discern mechanisms causing legal status effects, which should vary across local legal status and institutional ecosystems. The data include surveys, interviews, ethnography, and secondary documents.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Smith, Robert Courtney. 2017. “Don’t Let the Illegals Vote!”: The Myth of Illegals Latino Voters and Voter Fraud in Contested Local Immigration Integration.” Russell Sage Foundation 3(4): 148-175. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2017.3.3.09

Megan Reid, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Economic Wellbeing, Housing Insecurity, and New Family Formation in the Reentry Population: An Exploratory Study (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 12/1/2016-4/30/2019; $33,916)
Abstract: This project seeks to understand the contexts and processes of new relationship formation in the reentry population. It is important to understand how and why such relationships are formed because relationship characteristics impact both adult and child economic and overall wellbeing. This project collects and analyzes in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations with reentering low-income Black men and their new or potential partners in New York City.

Natasha Warikoo, Harvard University. Asian Americans in Suburban America: Academic Competition, Youth Culture and Racial Change (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 8/1/2016-12/31/2020; $119,093)
Abstract: This project studies the impact of an increased Asian-American population alongside increased competition at high schools in wealthy suburban communities. The findings will contribute to our understanding of assimilation and racial change. The study employs 200 in-depth interviews with white, Chinese American, and Indian American students and parents in two wealthy communities—one with a large, growing Asian-American population—and ethnographic observations and staff interviews at each local high school.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar, 2019, “Weak Multiculturalism and Fears of Cultural Encroachment: Meanings of Multiculturalism Among Young Elites in Britain,” Ethnicities, 20 (1): 49-70.
• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar, 2018, “What Meritocracy Means to its Winners: Admissions, Race, and Inequality at Elite Universities in The United States and Britain,” Social Sciences, 7 (8): 131-148.
• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar and Irene Bloemraad, 2018, “Economic Americanness and Defensive Inclusion: Social Location and Young Citizens' Conceptions of National Identity,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44 (5): 736-753.
• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar, The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar, Stacey Sinclair, and Jessica Fei, 2016, “Examining Racial Bias in Education: A New Approach,” Educational Researcher, Vol. 9: 508-514.
• Warikoo, Natasha Kumar and Janine deNovais, 2015, “Colour-Blindness and Diversity: Race Frames and their Consequences for White Undergraduates at Elite US Universities,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38 (6): 860-876.

Ajay Chaudry, New York University. Qualitative Follow-up with Putting Children First Study Sample on the Family and Work Dynamics of Low-Income Single Mother Families in New York City (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 11/1/2015-5/31/2017; $34,208; Supplemental: $17,041)
Abstract: This study will conduct follow-up interviews with about 20 respondents regarding changes in mothers’ employment, family structure, income, residence, and children’s school experiences. This will contribute to a book that combines qualitative data analysis and quantitative analysis of national longitudinal data to understand the work pathways and transitions of low-wage working mothers over two decades, and the implications for work and family policies.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Chaudry, Ajay, Taryn Morrissey, Christina Weiland, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa. Cradle to Kindergarten: A New Plan to Combat Inequality. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2017.
• Dutta-Gupta, Indivar, Kali Grant, Julie Kerkick, Dan Bloom, and Ajay Chaudry. 2018. “Working to Reduce Poverty: A National Subsidized Employment Proposal.” Russell Sage Foundation Journal of Social Sciences 4(3): 64-83. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.3.04

Andrea Voyer, University of Connecticut. The Etiquette of Inequality in Democratic Spaces (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 9/1/2015-8/15/2018; $149,016)
Abstract: “This project observes the codes of conduct and interpretive frames transforming class-cultural differences into group boundaries. The project consists of qualitative research in sites where class unequals are ostensibly social equals: the PTA of a Manhattan public school; attendees of a Harlem church; and community board members in a Queens neighborhood. The research asks: (1) What are the class manners shaping behavior? (2) What impact do those class manners have on group processes? (3) What cultural narratives justify or challenge the introduction of class-based inequality into these allegedly class-equal settings?

Publications (and work in progress):

• Voyer, Andrea M. 2016. “Thinking Through Everyday Inequality.” Public Culture, 29 (2): 227-234. DOI: 10.1215/08992363-3749021.

Steven Greenhouse, New York Times. What Is to Become of the American Worker? (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 9/1/2015-6/30/2016; $32,395)
Abstract: I will write a book that examines 1) why things have in many ways grown worse for American workers 2) the rise and fall of labor unions, why they have declined and what that means for the nation’s workforce, economy and democracy, 3) the growing role of non-union, alt-labor worker advocacy groups and the promise of these groups, and 4) recommendations on how to improve wages and conditions for workers. I will interview dozens of workers, academics, labor leaders and human resource executives and experts.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Greenhouse, Steven. Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.

Ruth Milkman, Center for Economic and Policy Research. The Impact of Work-Family Legislation on Business: The Case of New York City’s Paid Sick Days Law (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 7/1/2015-12/31/2016; $19,750)
Abstract: This project seeks to document the impact of the New York City Paid Sick Days law on employers by analyzing not only policies initiated by employers but those mandated by public policy. Is the NYC law a burden on small businesses? How are its costs absorbed? How is the work of absent workers covered? Has there been abuse? The project will include a telephone survey of a size-stratified sample of 350 covered employers, and site visits and in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of employers in a range of industries.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Milkman, Ruth, and Stephanie Luce. 2017. “Labor Unions and the Great Recession.” Russell Sage Journal of Social Sciences 3(3): 145-165. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2017.3.3.07

Heather Hill and Jennifer Romich, University of Washington, Seattle. Living at the Minimum: A Qualitative Study of Low-Wage Workers with Children During Seattle's Minimum Wage Increase (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 5/1/2015-12/31/2017; $30,766)
Abstract: We will launch a qualitative study of Seattle workers with children prior to the implementation of a city minimum wage law. Our in-depth interviews with 30 Seattle workers with children will focus on workers’ subjective experiences of low-wage work, and on the process by which policy affects family life.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Long, Mark C. 2021. “Seattle’s Local Minimum Wage and Earnings Inequality,” Economic Inquiry 60(2): 528-537.
• Romich, Jennifer and Heather D. Hill. 2018. “Coupling a Federal Minimum Wage Hike with Public Investments to Make Work Pay and Reduce Poverty.” Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 4(3): 22-43.
• The Seattle Minimum Wage Study Team. The Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance October 2017 Update: Report on Employer Adjustments, Workers Experiences, and Price Changes. Seattle, (WA: University of Washington, 2017), https://evans.uw.edu/sites/default/files/minwagereport20180119.pdf
• The Seattle Minimum Wage Study Team. Report on the Impact of Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance on Wages, Workers, Jobs, and Establishments through 2015. (Seattle, WA: University of Washington, 2016), https://evans.uw.edu/sites/default/files/MinWageReport-July2016_Final.pdf
• The Seattle Minimum Wage Study Team. Report on Baseline Employer Survey and Worker Interviews. Seattle, (WA: University of Washington, 2016), https://evans.uw.edu/sites/default/files/MinWageReport_April2016.pdf
• Hill, H.D. & Wething, H. “Will everything go up? Worker knowledge and interpretation of the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance.” (working paper)
• Bruns, A., Wething, H. & Hill, H.D. “Low-wage jobs and work-family fit: Perceptions and tradeoffs among working families.” (working paper)
• Bruns, A., Hill, H.D., Kahn-Kravis, T. “Low-income families’ objective and subjective financial well-being: Mixed method evidence from Seattle.” (working paper)

Danya Keene, Yale University. Reverse Mortgages and Racial Inequalities in Wealth and Health (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 11/1/2014- 4/30/2016; $34,087)
Abstract: The research will examine how African-American homeowners understand and experience reverse mortgage loans and how race shapes borrowing decisions and the risks and benefits of this loan option. We know little about the experiences of applying for or receiving a reverse mortgage, and what we know is limited to white borrowers. This project will conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews with homeowners who are considering or have received a reverse mortgage loan.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Keene, Danya E., Ann Sarnak, and Caitlin Coyle. 2019. “Maximizing Home Equity or Preventing Home Loss: Reverse Mortgage Decision Making and Racial Inequality,” Gerontologist, 59 (2): 242-250.

Sandra Morgen, University of Oregon. The Production of Tax Politics and Inequality: A Case Study of Tax-Related Ballot Initiative Campaigns in Oregon (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2014-6/30/2015; $22,291)
Abstract: This project will examine anti-tax ballot initiatives in Oregon to understand how the “taxpayer” has become a politicized identity, to explore what strategies and political practices have been deployed to influence taxpayer beliefs, and to identify how diverse political beliefs on the causes of economic inequality were adopted by different groups. I utilize these data sources: archival research on 40 years of political discourses on tax-related ballot initiatives, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 24 leaders of anti-tax advocacy groups, ethnographic fieldwork on three elections in which two or more tax-related ballot initiatives were considered, and ethnographic fieldwork on public events organized by Tea Party-affiliated groups in 2009-10. I will conduct a longitudinal discourse analysis on arguments for anti-tax measures since 1970.

Vikki Katz, Rutgers University. Family Trials: Immigrant Generation and Latino's Experiences Managing the Bronx Family Court System (Program: Cultural Contact; Grant Period: 6/1/2014-5/31/2015; $24,236)
Abstract: This project explores how parents and children understand and manage their interactions in the Bronx Family Court, which addresses alleged child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, and related family issues. Extensive observations of Family Court proceedings and interviews with parents, children, attorneys, caseworkers, court interpreters, and judges support the exploration of how specific cases progress through the Family Court. Building on six months of intensive observations of court proceedings and interviews with parents, children, and court-affiliated professionals, the study examines how (1) individual- and organizational-level influences; (2) race, ethnicity, and immigrant generation; and (3) differing reasons for families’ court involvement can influence the parents' and children's interactions with the Family Court and the professionals affiliated with it.

Publications (and work in progress):

• RSF book manuscript on immigrant families’ experiences in Bronx Family Court under revision in response to reviews.

Susan Coutin, Sameer Ashar, Jennifer Chacón, and Stephen Lee, University of California, Irvine. Navigating Liminal Legalities Along Pathways to Citizenship: Immigrant Vulnerability and the Role of Mediating Institutions (Program: Immigration; Grant Period: 4/1/2014- 8/31/2015; $30,000)
Abstract: Through fieldwork in two Southern California communities and legal research regarding changes in immigration law, we examine the experiences of migrants attempting to normalize their legal status. We (1) study the obstacles facing vulnerable immigrants, (2) investigate whether the availability of immigrant-serving community organizations mitigates such challenges, (3) generate proposals for improving the bureaucratic and legal efficacy of legalization efforts, and (4) lay the groundwork for a future full-scale study.

Publications (and work in progress):

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  Publications (and work in progress):

Jennifer Jones, University of Notre Dame, and Hana Brown, Wake Forest University. Enforcement or Embrace? The Determinants of State-Level Immigration Policy in New Immigration Destinations (Program: Immigration; Grant Period: 4/1/2014-7/31/2017; $22,954)
Abstract: This project examines why racially restrictive immigration policies have garnered widespread political support in some new immigrant destinations but not others. We conduct a qualitative comparative analysis of the immigration policy regimes in Alabama and Mississippi. Despite similar racial demographics and immigration settlement patterns, these states adopted radically different enforcement policies. Combining archival and media data, our results suggest the importance of multi-racial civil rights coalitions in thwarting anti-immigration policies. We find that such a movement arose in Mississippi, as immigrant rights activists allied with and borrowed discursive tools from Black civil rights groups, producing proactive coalition politics that prevented the passage of nearly 300 anti-immigrant bills introduced in the state legislature. In Alabama, the absence of organizing facilitated passage of one of the nation’s strictest anti- immigrant bills. It was only after these bills were passed that immigrant organizing emerged, producing reactive coalition politics.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Jones, Jennifer A. and Hana E. Brown. 2019. “American Federalism and Racial Formation in Contemporary Immigration Policy: A Processual Analysis of Alabama’s HB56,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 42(4): 531-551.
• Brown, Hana E., Jennifer A. Jones, and Andrea Becker. 2018. “The Racialization of Latinos in New Immigrant Destinations: Criminality, Ascription, and Counter- Mobilization,” Russell Sage Journal of the Social Sciences 4(5): 118-140.
• Brown, Hana and Jennifer A. Jones. 2016. “Immigrant Rights are Civil Rights.” Contexts Magazine 15(2): 34-39, Spring.
• Brown, Hana, Jennifer A. Jones, and Taylor Dow. 2016. “Unity in the Struggle: Immigration and the South’s Emerging Civil Rights Consensus.” Law and Contemporary Problems (79) 5- 27.
• Brown, Hana and Jennifer A. Jones. “Making Race and the State: Racialization and the Production of Anti-Immigrant Policy in Alabama.” (Under Review at Ethnic and Racial Studies).
• Jennifer A. Jones and Hana E. Brown. “Enforcement or Embrace? The Determinants of State-Level Immigration Policy in New Immigrant Destinations.” (In Progress).
• Hana Brown and Jennifer A. Jones. “The Cultural Effects of Social Movements: Racial Transformation and the Mississippi Struggle for Immigrant Rights.” (In Progress).

Ronald Mize, Oregon State University. Toiling in the Shadows of Affluence: High-Amenity Destinations, Immiseration, and the New Gilded Age (Program: Immigration; Grant Period: 10/1/2013-9/30/2014; $5,610)
Abstract: High-amenity destinations are recent recipients of significant influxes of Mexican immigrants. Clustered in ski resort areas of the Rocky Mountains, immigrants are central to a service economy that caters to the wealthiest. This project investigates how three locales— Colorado’s I-70 ski corridor, Utah’s Park City, and Wyoming’s Jackson—are differentially negotiating immigrant incorporation and community-level inequalities.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Book-length manuscript, tentatively titled Toiling in the Shadows of Affluence: High- Amenity Resort Destinations, Immi(gr/ser)ation, and the New Gilded Age.

Pipeline Grants

Diane Wong, Rutgers University, Newark. You Can’t Evict A Movement: Intergenerational Activism and Housing Justice in New York City (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 7/1/2021-6/30/2023; $26,087)
Abstract: In New York City, where one out of ten tenants are taken to housing court each year by their landlords, displacement shapes the political lives of Asian immigrant communities. My project focuses on how residents in Manhattan Chinatown are politically responding to evictions, landlord harassment, cultural erasure, and other forms of dispossession. My work provides a nuanced understanding of the conditions under which Asian immigrant communities are active in the making of urban space and urban politics, shifting away from a common narrative that portrays them as disengaged from democratic processes. I draw from a unique combination of methods including ethnography, participatory mapping, archival research, and oral history interviews.

Publications (and work in progress):

• Book-length manuscript in progress, titled You Can’t Evict a Movement: Intergenerational Activism and Housing Justice in New York City.

Brittany Fox-Williams, Research Foundation of the City University of New York. School Context and the Racialized Trust Perspectives of Black Youth (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 7/1/2021-6/30/2022; $29,702)
Abstract: The proposed study examines the racial dynamics of trust in schools, with an emphasis on the perspectives of Black youth. My previous research demonstrates that student– educator trust is a positive predictor of students’ academic outcomes. However, Black students report the lowest levels of trust in their educators compared to students of other racial groups. I will use a multi-site, interview design to investigate the underlying mechanisms connecting school context, trust, and the educational outcomes of Black students attending urban high schools. I will also examine educational strategies for fostering trusting school climates for Black students.

Emily Frazier, Northwest Missouri State University. Integration of Resettled Refugees in the U.S. Midwest (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2022; $30,000)
Abstract: President Trump issued a series of executive orders on immigration that temporarily suspended the Refugee Admissions Program and slashed admissions in half. This project seeks to understand (a) how resettled refugees experience integration in the U.S., (b) what factors refugees consider to be crucial in supporting their integration and mobility, and (c) how changes in resettlement policy have affected the ability of local agencies to support refugee integration.

Stephanie Canizales, University of California, Merced. Transnational aspirations: Unaccompanied Latinx immigrant youth’s undocumented labor migration, financial responsibilities, and opportunities for mobility in young adulthood (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2022; $29,816)
Abstract: This study asks: To what extent do unaccompanied, undocumented youth workers in the U.S. remain tied to their home communities via familial obligations? When are social and economic obligations activated, how do youths respond, and how do these obligations shape their life in the U.S.? I draw on original data that integrates four years of ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with Latinx young adults who arrived as unaccompanied minors prior to the current migration crisis. I expect that transnational familial obligations are dynamic and may be critical in shaping the incorporation trajectories of these youth.

Casey Stockstill, University of Denver. Teaching in Segregated Preschools: Class Inequality and Teachers’ Time Use (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2022; $29,718)
Abstract: Preschool quality hinges on teachers who have high stress, high turnover, and low wages work in preschools segregated by race and class. How does segregation shape teachers' experiences and decisions in preschool classrooms? I will study 60 preschools in Denver. At each preschool, I will survey the director; review documents, like parent handbooks and newsletters; and conduct an online, semi-structured interview with one preschool teacher. This research will compare how the stressors and decisions that preschool teachers face differ across majority-poor, class-integrated, and non-poor preschools.

Daysi Diaz-Strong, University of Illinois, Chicago. The Role of School Agents in Undocumented Students’ Access to Financial Aid Resources (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2022; $30,000)
Abstract: Undocumented students are barred from federal financial aid for postsecondary education and must rely on private and institutional sources of funding. School agents— including teachers, counselors, and social workers—play a crucial role in locating and providing financial aid information and resources to undocumented youth. Yet, we know little about how high school agents learn about and disseminate information to undocumented students and the challenges they encounter.

Rachel Ellis, University of Maryland, College Park. Punished in Plain Sight: Women’s Experiences on Probation (Program: Pipeline Grants; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2022; $29,998)
Abstract: Over half of the total correctional population live under community supervision on probation, with 73% of justice-involved women serving a probation sentence. Yet, we know little about the lived experiences of women on probation. Drawing on 55 interviews (15 probation officers, 40 women on probation) and six sets of intensive observations, this study highlights the daily hardships associated with living under community surveillance, as they relate to race, class, and motherhood.

Mixed-Methods Research Projects

David Grusky, Stanford University. Building a New Form of Qualitative Research (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 10/18/2021-10/17/2022; $49,311)

Julie Dowling, University of Illinois, Chicago. Race and the Politics of Trust in the Age of Cynicism (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 8/1/2021-8/31/2022; $49,601)

Charissa Cheah, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Racial Discrimination, Identity, Socialization and Civic Engagement among Asian American Families during COVID-19 (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 8/1/2021-7/31/2023; $175,000)

Elora Raymond, Georgia Institute of Technology. Preserving Rental Housing Stability during Disasters: An Examination of Eviction Moratoria during the COVID19 Pandemic (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2023; $167,194)

Seanna Leath, University of Virginia. A Mixed Methods Investigation of Black Parents’ Socialization on Gendered Racism and Misogynoir against Black Women and Girls (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 6/1/2021-5/31/2023; $49,522)

Kenneth Andrews, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Protest, Policy, and Racial Justice: The Impact of Black Lives Matter on Policing Reforms (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 4/1/2021-3/31/2023; $155,868)

Caitlin Patler, University of California, Davis. Reuniting Families: Understanding the impact of immigration prison decarceration due to the COVID-19 pandemic on detained immigrants and their families (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 4/1/2021- 3/31/2023; $168,082)

Asad Asad, Stanford University. Precarious Citizenship: Judicial Decisions in U.S. Denaturalization Cases (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2020-6/30/2022; $35,000)

Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, University of New Mexico. How Rental Property Management Shapes Social and Economic Inequality (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2020-6/30/2022; $49,345)

Sandra Smith, University of California, Berkeley. Perceptions and Experiences of the Formerly Incarcerated with Ban-the-Box (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 12/1/2019- 11/30/2020; $35,000)

Stefanie DeLuca and Nicholas Papageorge, Johns Hopkins University. Rational Responses to Uncertainty? Understanding Disadvantaged Youths’ Post-Secondary Educational Choices (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-6/30/2021; $171,182)

Ajay Chaudry and Sherry Glied, New York University. Identifying Effects of Proposed Public Charge Rules on the Wellbeing of Immigrant Families and Children and State Policies to Protect Access to Public Safety Net Supports (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2019-12/31/2020; $154,364)

Daniel Chand, Daniel Hawes, and Christopher Banks, Kent State University, and Apolonia Calderon, University of Maryland. Detained Immigrants and Parole Decisions: Does Legal Aid Make a Difference? (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 6/1/2019-8/31/2020; $32,825)

Lauren Duquette-Rury, Wayne State University. Naturalizing Under Threat: Citizenship Acquisition in the Age of Immigration Enforcement (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 4/1/2019-3/31/2021; $48,587)

Julia Gelatt and Jeanne Batalova, Migration Policy Institute. A Pre-Post Study of the Impact of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Termination on TPS Holders and Their Employers (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 3/1/2019-9/30/2020; $87,199)

Cristina Mora, University of California, Berkeley. California Color Lines: Racial and Political Attitudes in the Age of Precariousness (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 1/1/2019-12/31/2019; $28,643 (Supplemental: 1/1/2020 – 12/31/2021; $36,000))

Bruce Western, Columbia University. Studying the Rikers Island Jail Population (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 1/1/2019-12/31/2020; $172,390)

Jeremy Weinstein, Jens Hainmueller and Duncan Lawrence, Stanford University, and Jeremy Ferwerda, Dartmouth College. Co-Sponsorship and Refugee Integration Evaluating the Impact of Co-Sponsorship on Refugee and Host Community Outcomes in the United States (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 11/1/2018-10/31/2020; $47,192)

Carolyn Liebler, University of Minnesota, and Miri Song, University of Kent. Racial Identities and Life Choices among Mixed-Heritage People in the USA (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 11/1/2018-10/31/2020; $49,718)

Allan Colbern, Arizona State University. Today’s Runaway Slaves: Unauthorized Immigrants in a Federalist Framework (Program: Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Grant Period: 7/1/2018- 6/30/2020; $35,000)

Mona Lynch, University of California, Irvine. Drugs, Immigration, and a Renewed War on Crime: A Mixed Methods Follow-up Study (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 1/1/2018-12/31/2019; $34,979)

Daniel Galvin, Northwestern University. The New Politics of Workers’ Rights (Program: Non- Standard Employment; Grant Period: 9/1/2017-8/31/2020; $34,988)

Richard Frank, Harvard University, Thomas McGuire, Harvard University, Henry Steadman, Policy Research Associates, and Elizabeth Washbrook, University of Bristol. Criminal Justice Spillovers and Medicaid Expansion: Churning and Mental Health (Program: Effects of the Affordable Care Act; Grant Period: 7/1/2017-7/31/2019; $64,598)

B. Katherine Swartz, Harvard University. Tracing Effects in Non-Metropolitan Counties of the 2017 Federal Health Policy Changes (Program: Effects of the Affordable Care Act; Grant Period: 3/1/2017-12/31/2018; $50,000)

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Columbia University, and Theda Skocpol, Harvard University. Impact of Wealthy Donor Consortia on US Politics and Public Policy (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 3/1/2017-6/30/2019; $75,606)

Frank Levy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Impact of Improved Natural Language Processing on the Job of Call Center Operator (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 3/1/2017-2/29/2020; $7,350)

Jens Hainmueller, Tomás Jiménez, and Fernando Mendoza, Stanford University. Undocumented Status and Immigrant Families: An Interdisciplinary Impact Evaluation of Deferred Action (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 7/1/2016- 12/31/2018; $109,065)

Carrie Shandra, Stony Brook University, State University of New York. The New Bottom Rung? Internship Vacancies and Hiring in the Entry Level Job Market (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 6/1/2016-8/31/2019; $20,032 (Supplemental: $27,951))

Emily Ryo, University of Southern California. Experiences and Impacts of Immigration Detention (Program: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; Grant Period: 5/1/2016-5/31/2018; $34,940)

Rosemary Batt, Cornell University, and Wilma Liebman, New York University. Franchising and Low Wage Work (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 1/1/2016- 12/31/2019; $136,950)

Monica McDermott, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Eric Knowles, New York University, and Jennifer Richeson, Yale University. Inequality, Diversity and Working-Class Attitudes (Program: Cultural Contact; Grant Period: 12/1/2015-4/30/2019; $114,316)

Alicia Modestino, Northeastern University. Upskilling During the Great Recession: Why Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful? (Program: Future of Work; Grant Period: 12/1/2015-8/31/2017; $34,477)

Richard Alba, The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Pathways to Success: The Successful Second Generation in New York City, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (Program: Immigration; Grant Period: 3/1/2015-6/30/2016; $10,410)

Jamila Michener, Cornell University. Medicaid and the Political Marginalization of the Poor (Program: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Grant Period: 12/1/2014-3/31/2016; $26,859)

Rubén G. Rumbaut and Cynthia Feliciano, University of California, Irvine. The Second Generation in Middle Adulthood (Program: Immigration; Grant Period: 1/1/2014-12/31/2014; $34,840)