Focus On The City
Jennifer Lowe, a PhD student at NU, puts her sociological training to good use. Jennifer earned her MA in sociology at Northeastern, and is now completing her PhD, specializing in urban sociology and social inequality. She has worked at a variety of non-profit organizations engaged in anti-poverty work, and is now Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Crittenton Women's Union. Since 2003, Jennifer has served on the Executive Council of the New England Sociological Association. Below she explains how she applies her sociological training in real-world pursuits.
Q: What drew you to Crittenton Women’s Union? And what do you find most engaging in your work there?
Jennifer: I was initially drawn to CWU’s mission of transforming the course of low-income women’s lives so they can attain economic independence and create better futures for themselves and their families. The CWU mission struck a chord with me as it aligned with my own personal and professional mission--one that I’ve carried out in various roles in my work with homeless families, with people historically left out of the economic mainstream, and with economic development aimed at survivors of domestic violence. After the mutual attraction of similar missions, I continued to be drawn in by the agency’s commitment to research and advocacy. Not only does CWU provide critical programming to women in the areas of housing, workforce development, and education, but CWU is also committed to learn from other organizations and from the experiences of program participants themselves. What is learned is then passed along to the larger community –and to the legislature through dissemination of papers, presentations, policy briefs, etc. It was very appealing to be part of an organization that is doing anti-poverty work at the individual level as well as pursuing social change at the systemic level. Also, my position enables me to bridge research and practice. It’s all very exciting--and hard work, too.
Q: Tell us about some of the projects you’re currently working on?
Jennifer: I’m involved in a few different research projects at the moment, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. One project that uses my quantitative skills is an internal “Outcomes Management” project, which assesses the impact that various programs have on our efforts to move participants toward economic self-sufficiency. The findings of this project are shared internally with staff on a quarterly basis, and this helps them enhance their programs in an ongoing way. These data also enable funding agencies to support programs that are showing the greatest success. A second quantitative project is the Family Economic Self Sufficiency (FESS) project, which we’re doing in collaboration with Wider Opportunities for Women. The FESS project helps to establish the core budget a family needs to survive and become stable in different regions of Massachusetts without relying on public benefits. A third project I’m working on is also a collaborative project, this one with Boston College and Brandeis University. It is a seven year study of CWU’s newest program initiative, Career Family Opportunity (CFO). The research project tracks participants’ movements toward economic self-sufficiency, chronicles the details of each individual’s path in their own words and will explore intergenerational and community impact of the program. It really helps sensitize policy makers to the experiences of program participants, and puts a human face on what might otherwise be mere abstractions.
Q: What happens to the research after it’s been compiled?
Jennifer: The research gathered for the FESS project will be released to the public in early 2010 through mass email dissemination to our partners, media, press coverage/letters to the editor/press release, advocacy efforts at the state house, links of the report on the CWU website, an advocacy trip to members in congress in DC, and disseminated throughout the year to CWU program participants through workshop trainings and case management. The research gathered from the CFO project will most likely result in conference presentations, journal publications, academic research projects, etc. We also hope to organize learning conferences over the course of the project to share and learn ‘best practices’ with other programs across the nation engaged in similar work.
Q: Any observations about how your studies at Northeastern are linked to your work at CWU?
Jennifer: One of the things I’ve enjoyed about my studies at Northeastern is that I can connect my interests in urban sociology and inequality with issues relating to women in particular. I think there’s a real connection between poverty and gender inequality; most poor families are headed by women, and women are the sole income providers in a large proportion of poor households. I think it’s especially important to approach urban issues and poverty with a gender lens. Northeastern’s program has helped me do just that.