Julia Schoenfeld

Julia Schoenfeld (April 19, 1878 – ?) was a Jewish-American social worker, writer, and activist. During the period of her settlement work, Schoenfeld became interested in recreation for working girls, a subject on which she became a recognized authority. Her investigation of public dance halls in New York City, undertaken in 1908 while she was secretary of the Committee on the Amusement Resources of Working Girls, was the basis for the model New York City ordinance regulating dance halls. Later, as secretary of the Playground and Recreation Association of America (now known as the National Recreation and Park Association), she conducted dance hall investigations in Boston, Massachusetts, St. Joseph, Missouri, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

She visited many cities, studying the philanthropic and social work. She attended many conferences in the US and abroad. While in London in 1907, she made a close study of the Toynbee Hall and University Settlement. She was an active worker on the state committee and state confederation of Women's Clubs, also in the Consumers' League and with other state and national organizations for the improvement of working conditions among women and children. She has written many articles for the press and addressed many of the prominent clubs of the country. She is considered in her time to be one of the prominent women in the philanthropic work of the US.