Congratulations to Emily Zhang on her Projects for Peace proposal being accepted by the Davis Foundation Projects for Peace program!
Emily Zhang is a senior at George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice and double minoring in International Affairs and Law and Society. Emily’s research and service work aim to raise awareness to the hidden issue of children of incarcerated parents (CIP) and establish practical means of support. Her extensive research has shown that incarcerated parents are the best means for voluntary and confidential identification of these children to facilitate support. Emily has worked directly with incarcerated parents in the District, engaged in facilitating the practice of bibliotherapy, and became a Board Advisor for DC Project Connect. This project is a culmination of academic and service-based research from both Emily and Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. Emily's project to support children of incarcerated parents began in her Sociology of Law class in the Spring of 2020. From that project, she decided to look further into how to serve the needs of CIP through a service-based project. Through independent research, work with her amazing mentor and professor, Dr. Fran Buntman, and partnerships, she decided that offering to send books explaining parental incarceration to incarcerated parents in the federal Bureau of Prisons and their children would be a voluntary and impactful way to support a vastly hidden population.