Q&A with Dr. Molly Richard, New CISS Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Molly Richard, a Postdoctoral Associate at Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Science, recently received her PhD in 2023 from the Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, in the Community Research and Action department. She joined the Center for Innovation in Social Science in Fall 2023 and is currently working with Dr. Thomas Byrne (BU SSW) and Dr. Loretta Lees (BU Sociology & Initiative on Cities). Dr. Richard’s research examines strategies to prevent and end homelessness. Richard focuses on how structural inequality contributes to homelessness, and what local and national actors can (and should) do about it. She has a decade of community-engaged research experience and expertise in quantitative and qualitative methods and her research is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. She has also received funding from the Homeless, Racial Equity Partners, and other policymakers, researchers, advocates, and people experiencing homelessness across the U.S. For more information on Dr. Richard’s research and publications, learn more in a brief interview with CISS Communications Manager Lily Belisle and visit her webpage here!
What made you decide to be a social scientist/ why does social science matter to you?
Social science, to me, means working together to describe the societies we live in and plan for better ones—where all people have what they need to thrive. I’m motivated by a desire to understand the root causes of social issues, ask hard questions, and speak out when things need changing. Social science hasn’t always been on the right side of history, but I believe that critical, systematic inquiry can play a powerful role in helping people understand themselves, investigate the world around them, and advance social change.
My first job after college was as a direct service provider for youth who had experienced trauma—often from homelessness and poverty. There, I saw how under-resourced service settings were trying to heal the consequences of social problems that had deep, structural root causes. After a while, I decided to find a job where I could support change on a larger scale. I was lucky to find a position where I spent five years on local and national projects to improve homelessness response systems. From there, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Community Research and Action, an interdisciplinary program that emphasizes using research to inform policy and support social change. My goal is to use my training to support efforts to understand and address homelessness and housing inequality across the U.S.
Can you tell us about a current research project that you’re excited about?
Right now, I’m excited about putting the final touches on two projects from my dissertation: one on better understanding racial inequities in homelessness, and the other on exploring how communities are actively working to address these inequities. The first explores the structural causes of homelessness across the U.S. Among other questions, I investigate how measures of structural racism help explain why rates of homelessness in some cities and counties are 10 times higher for Black people than White people. The second uses one-on-one interviews with community leaders to showcase what urban areas are doing to acknowledge these disparities and center racial equity in their homelessness response efforts.
What has led you to the intersection of disciplines within which your expertise lies?
As an undergraduate, I majored in Psychology and focused on child development. However, I quickly realized that I could only understand people’s life experiences and outcomes in the context of the social, political, and economic forces shaping them, and supplemented my Psychology classes with courses in Sociology, Africana Studies, Geography, and more. In the end, one of my favorite—and most significant–parts of my undergraduate education was connecting the dots between what I was learning in different classes and thinking about how the varied theories and methods could work together to help paint a more complete picture of the world.
When I considered how to use research to address homelessness, I drew on the disciplines of Social Work and Community Psychology to better understand the interventions that help individuals and families out of homelessness. My work to explore how urban governance structures are responding to homelessness (e.g., how interventions are funded at a large scale, how policies are made, and who makes them) is situated in Public Policy & Administration and Urban Planning. Finally, I apply frameworks from Sociology, Geography, and Urban Studies to better understand the societal conditions (both historical and today) that produce homelessness, housing precarity, and the larger processes they are a part of.
How does your research benefit from an interdisciplinary approach?
From my research and work with communities, I’ve learned that ending homelessness means: listening to those who have experienced it; designing caring and effective ways to help people find, afford, and stay in housing; and collective organizing towards more fundamental change (to systems of housing, labor, the social safety net, and white supremacy, to name a few). Different disciplines have different strengths across these areas.
Another benefit is the community of researchers, both academic and applied, who I get to meet and work alongside. I love connecting with scholars across disciplines and being a bridge between them. I believe we can do much more together than in silos. And, for me, when the work feels challenging in the face of growing inequality, having community to lean on is key.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time at BU?
At BU, I hope to continue growing as a scholar through mentorship from Professor Loretta Lees in Sociology and the Initiative on Cities and Professor Thomas Byrne at the School of Social Work. I’ll work on publishing my dissertation research and starting new projects that extend the work in exciting ways through different datasets. I’m also eager to teach. This Spring, I’m teaching a course on homelessness in the Sociology department (CAS SO 455 Topics in Social Issues: Homelessness) and I’m looking forward to digging into the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to homelessness with BU students and learning from their perspectives.