Georgia State University’s Georgia Policy Labs (GPL) has named economist Jonathan Oxley the winner of its third Engaged Research Competition.

Oxley, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Management and Policy, will receive an award of almost $35,000 to support a research-practice partnership with The Gateway Center and Family Promise, two nonprofit organizations working to help and provide vital resources and services to unhoused individuals in Atlanta and its metro area. Their work will use experimental techniques to determine how homeless resource centers — commonly referred to as homeless shelters — can best attract community contributions, which are an important supplement to larger grant programs.

Oxley, along with Husnain Ahmad from the University of the South, will work with these organizations to produce actionable research that analyzes donor preferences for giving to unhoused individuals and organizations that provide services, and if the location of these services plays a role in donor giving. Their work will lead to evidence-based recommendations that these organizations can use to ensure they have the resources necessary to enhance the services they provide in and around Atlanta.

“While grant programs provide funding for these organizations, contributions from the community and beyond play a critical role in funding programs and the organizations themselves,” Oxley said. “This new partnership will help these organizations become more sustainable by providing evidence on how the community best connects with their work.”

The goal of the Engaged Research Competition, funded by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, the Office of the Provost and the Dan E. Sweat Endowment, is to remove structural barriers that can prevent faculty from conducting partner-driven research. These barriers may include lengthier time to publication, data-sharing complications and time needed to build trust with a partner.

Associate Professor of Economics Jonathan Smith, Graduate Research Assistant Cade Lawson and Sam Rauschenberg, vice president of organizational effectiveness at Achieve Atlanta, judged this year’s competition. It is the third of four Engaged Research Competitions that GPL, a research unit in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, will administer.