Julia Schoenfeld, who studied the charitable institution Toynbee Hall, became a recognized authority on working girls helping establish the basis for the model of the New York City ordinance regulating dance halls.
While in London in 1907, she made a close study of the Toynbee Hall and University Settlement. Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. 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. 
