The Center for Public Justice (CPJ), a Christian civic education and public policy research organization based in Washington, D.C., has released new academic research conducted by three undergraduate student-faculty pairs. Now in its third year, The Hatfield Prize honors the late Senator Mark O. Hatfield, a U.S. Senator from Oregon known for integrating his Christian faith and his public policy commitments. The Hatfield Prize is made possible through the generous support of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The findings and conclusions presented in The Hatfield Prize reports are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of these foundations.
This year’s awardees are three student-and-faculty pairs from Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) institutions: Katie Bogle (‘21) and Abby Foreman, Ph.D. at Dordt University, Anna Cole (‘21) and Timothy Taylor, Ph.D. at Wheaton College, and Daniel Montoya (‘20) and Anupama Jacob, Ph.D. at Azusa Pacific University.
“The 2020 Hatfield Prize reports make a vital and timely contribution to policy conversations around child care, predatory payday lending, and family homelessness,” Katie Thompson, Program Director for Shared Justice, an initiative of CPJ, said. “Writing from a distinctly Christian perspective, the authors’ work advances scholarship on these important issues – each of which is exacerbated by COVID-19 – and provides practical recommendations for government and civil society.”
Research this year includes “The Child Care Crisis and Its Impact on Hispanic Families” (Bogle and Foreman), “Predatory Lending and the Need for a Healthy Financial Ecosystem” (Cole and Taylor), and “The Invisible Homeless: Families and the Permanent Supportive Housing Model” (Montoya and Jacob).
Through the Hatfield Prize reports, award recipients integrate faith with academic scholarship, pursuing today’s pressing social challenges through a public justice framework that recognizes the unique roles and responsibilities of government and civil society. Students, with support from their faculty advisors, articulate the normative principles that ought to guide society’s response to issues like the social safety net, and then make practical applications and recommendations for ways in which government and civil society can promote human flourishing in their local communities.
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The Hatfield Prize awards funding annually to three student-faculty pairs from Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) institutions to conduct research on policies that impact vulnerable children, families, and communities. The Hatfield Prize is made possible through the generous support of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Shared Justice is the Center for Public Justice’s initiative for college students and young adults exploring the intersection of faith, politics, and public justice. Shared Justice provides Christian young adults with access to mentorship, a learning community, and a platform for practicing citizenship.
The Center for Public Justice is an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted to policy research and civic education. Working outside the familiar categories of right and left, conservative and liberal, we seek to help citizens and public officeholders respond to God's call to do justice.