Calvin College scholar Emily Steen and her school adviser Mark Mulder, Ph.D., are considered one of three student-faculty pairs to have been awarded this yr’s Hatfield Prize by the Middle for Public Justice. CPJ is a nonpartisan Christian group primarily based in Alexandria, Va. whose mission is to pursue justice by serving God, advancing justice, and remodeling public life by way of “residents and leaders work(ing) collectively to form public life for the great of all.” Recipients will spend the following six months conducting analysis and writing on a selected social coverage “and discover the affect of those insurance policies of their native communities.” College students obtain a $5,000 award and college $1,500 to pursue this work. Remaining reviews can be printed September 2023.
“Award recipients combine religion with tutorial scholarship,” CPJ stated in a information release, “pursuing in the present day’s urgent social challenges by way of a public justice framework that acknowledges the distinctive roles and obligations of presidency and civil society.” The prizes, now named for the late Senator Mark O. Hatfield, who was recognized for his principled Christian religion, have been awarded since 2018. This yr, together with Steen and Mulder, the pairs of prize winners are from LaTourneau College in Longview, Texas, and Multnomah College in Portland, Ore.
Steen’s analysis will concentrate on “previously incarcerated returning Calvin Jail Initiative college students and graduates as they face systematic obstacles” in public reentry, she stated in a Jan. 19 Fb submit. Her analysis, she stated, “is targeted on Cain’s query to God in Genesis 4: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ What’s our accountability to those present and former college students?”
“The shadow of mass incarceration really looms over them, influencing every part about their lives, from their lack of ability to safe employment to the stigma connected to their very being in neighborhoods wherein they battle to search out inexpensive and secure housing,” Steen defined to Matt Kucinski in an article for the Calvin’s alumni journal, The Spark.
Professor Mark Mulder, who will function Steen’s school adviser, stated, “The objective is in the end about how we higher love returning residents in a way that nurtures alternatives for them to flourish. Meaning the analysis will doubtless counsel companies and networks that may higher attend to the actual wants of returning residents as they pursue undergraduate levels at Calvin.”
Mulder, who attends Sherman Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., stated he “hopes the analysis will spotlight the methods wherein establishments like Calvin can higher serve returning citizen-students.” Steen, who’s the founder and president of the Calvin Peacemakers, a restorative justice membership that has labored with state laws and the Michigan Division of Corrections in partnership with the CPI, says she hopes “this analysis can be an impactful technique to give again to the group and college students as they wrestle with re-entry care.”
