Julia Schoenfeld became a recognized authority on working girls helping establish the basis for the model of the New York City ordinance regulating dance halls.
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. 
