Trojans Spring Forward: Spring 2023

USC and the Community: Working Hand-in-hand

USC’s ambitions extend far beyond the perimeter of our campuses; the university is an active partner in each of our neighborhoods. This spring, we joined community leaders to cut the ribbon at Casa de Rosas, the West Adams facility where the Head Start program is one of eight that USC operates around Los Angeles. The L.A. Times Festival of Books — the largest literary and cultural festival in the country — brought authors, celebrities and 150,000 attendees to our University Park Campus. Our signature college prep program, the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative, marked 1,500 graduating scholars since its inception in 1996. The USC Aquaculture Lab in San Pedro is doing important work and inspiring high school students to consider science as a career. And the amazing Street Medicine Team from our Keck School of Medicine is providing desperately needed care for the unhoused while also providing a model for others throughout California. Read more about our community outreach programs below.

Preschoolers in a classroom

Celebrating Casa de Rosas’ new Head Start center, housing for homeless veterans

USC President Carol L. Folt joins community leaders at the renovated campus, which includes a USC-run preschool and housing for homeless veterans and their families.

Read more

Photo of LA Times Festival of Books attendees writing what books they are reading on a poster

Photos: Books take center stage as USC hosts nation’s largest literary and cultural festival

Thousands gathered at USC’s University Park Campus to celebrate the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, an annual tradition that has become the nation’s largest literary and cultural festival.

Read more

Photo of Kim Barrios-Thomas speaking

USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative marks more than 1,500 graduating scholars since 1997

Strong representation in STEM majors and continued support for transfer students are hallmarks of the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative.

Read more

Photo of students at the USC Aquaculture Lab

USC Aquaculture lab wows South Los Angeles high school students

Learning about the blue economy and aquatic farming enables students from King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, some of whom have never visited the ocean or a lab, to see science career possibilities.

Read more

Photo of street medicine team helping out a patient

USC Street Medicine Team to train health care workers around the state

A new grant supports spreading Keck School of Medicine of USC’s successful model to other communities with people who are unsheltered.

Read more