Nicole Loonstyn is a Senior studying Criminal Justice and Political Science. During her sophomore year, she worked as a research assistant within the Rethinking DC Youth and Policing Cohort, where she conducted research and helped develop initiatives to better youth interactions with police in Washington DC. Since June 2022, she has been a director at Building Bonds Through Books, an initiative that helps provide books about parental incarceration to incarcerated parents and their children to help reduce the stigma and foster positive communication around parental incarceration. This summer, she interned for the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, where she worked on conducting and analyzing research for projects that worked to aid incarcerated individuals and their families, which led to the development of her article, "Low-Cost Phone Calls Benefit Incarcerated People, Their Families, and Criminal Legal Institutions." The article focuses on how, for incarcerated individuals, telephones can be a lifeline, but calling home is an expense not everyone can afford. New legislation is helping to make it more obtainable, and additional steps can help further break down affordability barriers for incarcerated individuals and their families. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in research to continue her effort in supporting incarcerated individuals and their families.