Our Communities

Preschool

An education doesn’t start in college, or in high school, or even in elementary school. That’s why USC is committed to ensuring that our neighbors’ children have learning opportunities at every level - beginning in the preschool years.

Since 1970, the USC School for Early Childhood Education (SECE) has provided comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education services to low-income children and families in the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park campus, including five fully licensed Head Start State Preschool child-care and development centers.

USC SECE is funded by a combination of federal and state funds, including a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, and a grant from the State Department of Education, Child Development Division State Preschool.

Schools and departments across the university are also engaged in outreach supporting early childhood education. As part of the Engineering Writing Program’s community consulting initiative, students in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s advanced writing course have partnered with many local nonprofit organizations, including the Company of Mary’s Divine Providence Kindergarten and Day Nursery. The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Joint Educational Project regularly assigns students as helpers in nearby preschools.

The USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities’ Early Childhood Mental Health Program operates a preschool for children with special needs in addition to providing therapeutic services for children in regular preschool classrooms to enhance their development and family relationships and help keep them in regular school settings.