Good Neighbors Campaign hopes to fill the gaps in health care worker shortages
PUENTE Learning Center, a Good Neighbors Campaign grantee, is showing high school students that there are careers in health care beyond the traditional roles of doctor or nurse.
The United States is facing an alarming health care workers shortage, but PUENTE Learning Center, a Good Neighbors Campaign grantee, is working to change that.
Demonstrators put bandages on damaged sidewalks
University Park community members and USC students came together on the sidewalks near Norwood Street Elementary School Thursday morning to raise awareness about the long-standing issue of cracked and unsafe sidewalks.
Cochlear Implant Music Hour strikes a chord
USC program — supported by the university’s Good Neighbors Campaign — connects implant recipients with musicians to recapture and rediscover the feelings one gets from listening to music.
Music can soothe and inspire. But for those with a cochlear implant — a neuroprosthetic that attempts to restore sound to the deaf and hard of hearing — enjoying music is a challenge.
The devices don’t pick up subtle nuances, melodies and timing that can make music enjoyable, says cochlear implant recipient Raymond Goldsworthy, associate professor in the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Good Neighbors Campaign program hopes to promote therapy through theater
Plaza de la Raza collaborates with the USC School of Dramatic Arts on programs to help youth overcome trauma.
Nestled within Lincoln Park on Los Angeles’ Eastside and providing a picturesque backdrop to the USC Health Sciences Campus is Plaza de la Raza, a vibrant community center for music, arts and culture. It is also the home to Plaza’s Theater for Social Justice and its new program, the Salud Pa Ti Youth Theater Project, a USC Good Neighbors Campaign grant recipient.
Reducing recidivism through mentorship
Keck School of Medicine of USC Ph.D. doctoral graduate and commencement speaker, Helena Bugacov, is making a difference in young people’s lives. With the assistance of the Good Neighbors Grant, Bugacov has developed a program that mentors youth at Eastlake Juvenile Hall High School. Her goal is to reduce youth recidivism and expose them to college pathways. By providing youth with mentorship, she offers an opportunity to succeed and break away from the incarceration cycle. Through her work, Helena helps create a more equitable future. Bugacov’s experience inspired her to launch a similar program in partnership with Rikers Island, as she plans to move to Mount Sinai in Manhattan, NY, for her residency.
Developing future social entrepreneurs
The USC Hybrid High College Prep Thrive in Joy club was honored by the VING Project with the Giving for Good Award for their efforts to connect women in financial need with resources at the Multiplying Good Youth Summit 2023 in Washington, D.C. As a wild card selection, the club tied for first place among Multiplying Good’s 11 regions for its entrepreneurial social impact project Move. Thrive. Be.
New generation of advocates uses photojournalism to illuminate life in L.A.
The Digital Promotoras program — funded in part by the USC Good Neighbors Campaign — teaches teens how photography can shed light on the unseen issues in their communities.
Haley Santibanez started out in photography as a kid by shooting a popular subject in social media: cats.
Today, the 17-year-old from El Sereno is a published photographer with serious accomplishments. Photos she took at a protest in downtown Los Angeles last summer were featured in The Washington Post. The news outlet’s attention surprised her. “I didn’t think my work would be good enough to be featured like that,” Santibanez said. Just a few years ago, Santivanez was a painfully shy teen when she walked into a photography program in Boyle Heights called Digital Promotoras.
To tackle architecture’s diversity problem, USC opens doors to L.A. teens
Los Angeles high school students will receive intensive training as part of a USC School of Architecture program to diversify the ranks of architects and design professionals.
In a push to increase racial and socioeconomic diversity in architecture, USC leaders are launching a rigorous new initiative for Los Angeles teenagers to give them insight into the profession.
The A-Lab Architecture Development Program will bring high school students from Los Angeles who are underrepresented in architecture circles — like Latinos and Blacks — to the University Park Campus for a semester-long immersion at the USC School of Architecture. For three hours a day, they will gain architectural skills, complete design projects and learn from faculty members and college students.
“As a first-of-its-kind program in California, A-Lab is designed to engage underrepresented students in Los Angeles by instilling in them the competence and confidence they need to become design professionals and leaders,” said Milton S. F. Curry, the school’s dean. “Our goal is to inspire and help these students — future citizen architects — prepare for college while also empowering them to think creatively about the challenges that face architects, landscape architects and designers today and into the future.”
Through photojournalism, young women document the essences of their communities
Partly funded by a grant from the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, the Digital Promotoras program helps students tell the local stories that matter to them.
In line with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words,” the Las Fotos Project and its Digital Promotoras program are helping young women in Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles find more than a thousand words and enhance their storytelling through photojournalism.
Digital Promotoras — or Digital Advocates — helps students identify social issues within their local community…
Dance adaptation: USC Kaufman student teachers keep kids moving through online classes
Elementary students dance like no one’s watching as they step into their virtual studio, taking part in a key program that’s expanding during a tough time.
Seventeen Kaufman student teaching artists are leading 11 virtual classrooms for 32nd Street Elementary through Kaufman Connections, a community engagement initiative that received a funding through USCÕs Good NeighborÕs campaign, the American Dance Movement and Arts in Action. (Image/Ron Mackovich)“We’re just going to take a few bounces, step side to side,” a teaching artist shouts out to an online class full of third graders from 32nd Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. “Scoop left, scoop right.”
The words describe the moves, making it easy for kids to follow. Some move in sync with the instructor, while a few others bounce and some just shift side to side. One mixes dance and baseball practice, swinging a bat and swaying at the same time. Young dancers move in and out of frame…
Good Neighbors Campaign awards $1.3 million to community programs combating COVID-19
The grants support local nonprofits and programs focused on food and housing insecurity, along with closing the digital divide for remote learning students.
The international pandemic has hit the communities surrounding USC’s campuses hard. Food and housing insecurity and the digital divide are among the issues affecting the university’s neighbors.
At the onset of the pandemic, USC’s Good Neighbors Campaign pivoted and allowed programs serving the local community to apply for much-needed COVID-19 relief through campaign-funded grants. It was an unprecedented action for an unprecedented time. Now, the campaign will distribute over $1.3 million in grants to local nonprofits and community programs helping in the fight against these issues…
Here’s one way to get more diversity in science and health fields
When you don’t know any doctors or scientists, it can be tough to imagine becoming one.
The USC STAR program introduces teens to real lab work, and it’s one of many initiatives supported by the university’s Good Neighbors Campaign.
Jenny Martínez speaks up for people who don’t have a voice in the health care system and ensures they’re treated with dignity.
A scientist and expert in occupational therapy for nearly a decade, Martínez studies how to best care for older adults and people with debilitating injuries. She also passes along her wisdom to the next generation as a university professor. The published researcher teaches students how to conduct studies and serve patients with respect.
It might be surprising, then, to hear that she was once a teenager unsure of her place in science. Martínez remembers feeling a little scared, apprehensive and intimidated the first time she entered a research lab on USC’s Health Sciences Campus as a junior in high school.
Back then, it all seemed so overwhelming. Lab benches teeming with complicated equipment. Scientists busily buzzing around with an air of knowledge. USC students setting up their experiments with confidence.
For Martínez, going to college and pursuing a career in a STEM field felt foreign and out of reach — even though she loved science. She knew only a few kids from her East Los Angeles neighborhood who were in college, let alone studying science or engineering… read more
Local working families enjoy a holiday meal, thanks to Neighborhood Academic Initiative
To show their appreciation for families in the nearby community, the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative partnered with USC Hospitality to provide a warm holiday dinner.
The holidays, while joyous, can be a difficult time for many, as working families with time and budget commitments are often put under additional strain. That’s why the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative partnered with USC Hospitality to provide a holiday meal for local families, many of which are hard-working people caught in the financial crunch of living in an expensive area.
“We wanted to provide a great meal to members of our local community,” said Carlos Perez of USC Hospitality. “The dinner provided is more of an appreciation. These are working families, and the goal was to create a setting that was welcoming and provides a break for one evening.”… read more
Good Neighbors Campaign commemorates 25 years of serving the community
The annual dinner honoring USC faculty and staff who donated 1% of their salary featured Good Neighbors alumni and President Carol L. Folt.
USC celebrated the impact of its Good Neighbors Campaign — through which university faculty and staff make payroll donations to support the neighboring communities — with Thursday’s annual dinner honoring those who contribute 1% of their salary to the program.
Ariel Caballero, the night’s keynote speaker, told the donors in attendance how the Good Neighbors Campaign-funded “After ‘Cool” program helped transform his life. Caballero credits that program — organized by the 24th Street Theatre, located several blocks from the USC University Park Campus — with giving him the… read more
Good Neighbors Campaign awards $1.4 million to community partners
Donors, volunteers and community partners came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the campaign that has generated over $25 million for more than 900 community-based programs.
USC’s Good Neighbors Campaign continued its tradition of local support by awarding $1.4 million to community partners and educational partnership groups.
“You are all making a difference,” said Carolina Castillo, campaign director for the Good Neighbors Campaign, to a room of donors, volunteers and community partners… read more
Troy Camp kids return to forest years later — as USC students
They created unforgettable memories as children in USC’s mentorship program. Now these Trojans are helping the next generation of campers build confidence and make lifelong friends.
Few things have changed Andrew “Jupiter” Oropeza’s life as much as Troy Camp.
A shy kid, he often spent recess at John W. Mack Elementary School buried in a book. The weeklong trip into the mountains with the popular USC student-run camp and mentorship initiative helped him come out of his shell.
Troy Camp counselors also tutored him and gave him advice on SAT prep and college applications. He gained practical skills through Troy Camp’s high school leadership program, like getting his driver’s license and learning how to open a bank account and save money. Read more.