Projects
Families Free co-founder, Melissa Neal, is currently working on her dissertation research project investigating the educational performance of children of prisoners. The information from this study may provide a greater understanding of how to support children of prisoners academically, thus improving their success and decreasing the likelihood of entering the cycle of incarceration.
Many thanks go out to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee (website) which has been a tremendous partner in this research by allowing access to a research sample. The whole staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters has been great to work with, including Mary Walker, Sandy Moore, and many more! In the photo above is friend and fellow Elon University (website) alumna, Rachel Copeland!
Also, many thanks go out to Doug Bell at Office Depot #250 (website) , Phillip Trigg with Bojangles (website), TN Credit Union (website), and Starbucks at Metrocenter and Dominican St., Nashville (website) for providing both material and financial backing for this research!