Our Communities

Eligibility

Any benefits-eligible USC employee, group of employees, unit, department, school or combination thereof is eligible to apply for a USC Neighborhood Outreach grant. To be considered for funding, proposed programs must incorporate genuine university-community partnerships and support one or more of USC’s university-community initiatives.

University-Community Partnerships

Each USC Neighborhood Outreach-funded program must involve a reciprocal partnership with at least one community-based, tax-exempt organization that operates and has a home base within the USC Neighborhood Outreach boundaries:

• Health Sciences Campus Neighborhood
  The area bounded by North Broadway to the north, Cesar Chavez Avenue to the south, Indiana Street to the east and Daly Street/Santa Ana (5) Freeway to the west
  USC Neighborhood Outreach HSC Map (PDF file, 45KB)


• University Park Campus Neighborhood
  The area bounded by Santa Monica/10 Freeway to the north, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the south, Harbor/110 Freeway to the east, Western Avenue to the west
  USC Neighborhood Outreach UPC Map (PDF file, 41KB)

University-Community Initiatives

Programs also must be directed toward meeting one or more of USC’s university-community initiatives aimed at strengthening the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park and Health Sciences campuses:

• Improving the quality of K-12 education, and the quality of life for children and their families, with special consideration for:
  • Providing specific metrics to measure improvement in student achievement (e.g., increase in reading/writing/math proficiency level, improvements in test scores, application of learned concepts)
  • Improving health outcomes, particularly in the area of obesity and diabetes, and providing specific metrics for measuring improvement (e.g., weight loss, changes in behaviors, changes in perceptions)
• Improving community safety through community policing or other initiatives, with special consideration to proposals that address community safety through peace building, peacemaking, dispute resolution, mediation and similar means
• Promoting economic development, including entrepreneurial stimulation, neighborhood beautification and employability enhancement for local residents
  • Supporting job creation, encompassing training and small business development and including but not limited to a focus on workforce training, entrepreneurship development, accessing capital and securing job contracts
• Promoting home ownership to long-term, low-income USC employees who live in our neighborhoods

Additional Criteria

Additional criteria used for selecting grant recipients and determining awards are at the discretion of the grant review committee. Such determinations are not subject to review by any other party.