2008-2009 Grant Recipients

Education
Adventures Ahead After School Program: $14,850
CAHSEE to College After-School Program: $17,735
Community-Based USC School of Social Work Interns Program: $25,440
Education Consortium of Central Los Angeles (ECCLA): $21,150
Family Science Project (FSP): $24,650
Mission Science (UPC): $36,375
Mission Science2 (HSC): $18,755
Science for Life Outreach Program: $10,536
University Park Family Newspaper: $80,000
USC African Millennium Pen Pal Program: $13,750
USC Community Computing Program: $27,990
USC Family of Schools In-School Facilitators: $12,500
USC NAI Saturday Academy: $28,255
USC Neighborhood Debate League: $11,645
USC ReadersPlus: $45,675
USC Sea Grant Parent - Child Education Program: $10,086
VIP CMHC Mentoring and Tutoring Program: $31,500

Arts Education
24th Street Theatre - After ‘Cool Theatre Program: $27,300
Art in the Village: $24,865
Dance Included Final Showcase: $5,474
USC Thornton Jazz Reach: $30,720
USC Thornton Outreach Program: $32,620

Sports Education
After School Sports Connection: $50,000
Kids In Sports & KISFit Grant: $36,000
NYSP Trojan Kids Camp: $19,440

Safety/Socialization
Block by Block Initiative: Building a Peaceful Los Angeles: $45,000
Parks for Peace: Bringing Peace to Parks and Communities in South Los Angeles: $46,500
Peace Games: $30,815
USC Street Law Foundation: $5,000

Health
A Fotonovela on Dementia: $28,970
Building Community Support for a Farmers Market at Norwood: $20,000
FUENTE Initiative: $5,500
Healthy Eating Living and Playing Kids Program (H.E.L.P.): $19,210
HSC Community Health Fair: $14,365
USC Health & Science Expo 2008: $14,554
USC Neighborhood Mobile Van Prevention Project: $18,000
USC Physical Therapy Fit Families Program: $11,342
USC Troy Camp: $20,700

Education

Adventures Ahead After School Program: $14,850
Community partner: Redeemer Community Partnership
USC partner: USC Office of the Provost’s Initiative on Immigration & Integration
Program Description: At “Adventures Ahead”, volunteer tutors work with elementary school students to achieve literacy and to nurture each student’s development as a lifelong reader. This year, they will help them with their transition into middle-school by focusing on improving their math skills. They will also prepare workshops on diabetes and obesity addressed to the children and their families.

CAHSEE to College After-School Program: $17,735
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay and Manual Arts schools, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, USC Recreational Sports
USC partner: USC TRIO Programs
Program Description: This after school program will assist local high school students to successfully pass the California High School Exit Examination through an academic support system in mathematics and English. It will also assist middle school students with low mathematics and English scores on the California Standardized Testing Reporting (STAR) and provide students with academic advisement and informational workshops to prepare them for college. Last year, 100% of students participating passed the CAHSEE exam.

Community-Based USC School of Social Work Interns Program: $25,440
Community partner: Foshay Learning Center
USC partner: USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative
Program Description: Interns from the USC School of Social Work will collaborate with diverse USC programs, such as the USC Community Education Academy, the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative, the School for Early Childhood Education, and the USC TRIO programs. This program allows that students and their families receive regular one-on-one counseling with a social work professional, generally their first opportunity to access such a resource. It will introduce parents and other family members to new strategies for working with students who are at risk of failure due to social or psychological problems effective ways of working together to overcome the specific challenges they face.

Education Consortium of Central Los Angeles (ECCLA): $21,150
Community partner: Education Consortium of Central Los Angeles
USC partner: USC Civic and Community Relations
Program Description: ECCLA, the fiscal sponsor of many of the USC Neighborhood Outreach funded programs exists to build connections between the community schools, and its member institutions, such as USC. This grant will enable ECCLA to expand its outreach to our local schools through an enhanced website, database development, marketing materials, re-launching their newsletter, support student scholarships and annual teacher of the year awards.
http://www.eccla.org/

Family Science Project (FSP): $24,650
Community partners: Foshay, Norwood, and St. Agnes schools
USC partner: USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Pre-College Programs
Program Description: FSP is a hands-on science program that brings the thrill of science discovery to underserved communities. They intend to conduct 10 Family Science Courses (four at St Agnes, four at Foshay and two at Norwood) over the period of one year.

Mission Science (UPC): $36,375
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, John Mack, Norwood, Vermont, and Weemes schools
USC partner: USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Pre-College Programs
Program Description: This after-school program allows at least 500 elementary and middle school students to learn science, engineering and technology by working on an informal, inquiry basis by providing true hands-on projects, exhibits, simple experiments, machinery to take apart, and a workshop in which to work. Students will become MSIs – Mission Science Investigators, and take environmental samples of air, soil and water and analyze them, solving the mysteries of the world around them. This year, the program is expanding to John Mack Elementary.

Mission Science2 (HSC): $18,755
Community partners: Griffin and Murchison Elementary Schools, Variety Boys & Girls Club
USC partner: USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Pre-College Programs
Program Description: The Mission Science2 program located in the HSC neighborhood schools and at the Variety Boys and Girls Club follows the same idea as the Mission Science in the University Park Campus. This year, each site will be open after school two or three afternoons each week, from approximately 3:15 - 5:00 p.m., and Variety will have Saturday programs as well. More than 250 students will participate in Mission Science at these sites.

Science for Life Outreach Program: $10,536
Community partner: Murchison Street Elementary School
USC partner: Keck School of Medicine of USC
Program Description: The SFL science and engineering modules are composed of a series of lessons which use the research of the Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center as focal points to make science relevant to the young children. One of their goals for this year is to increase the number of USC students who serve as mentors.

University Park Family Newspaper: $80,000
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, John Mack, Manual Arts, Norwood, Science Center, Vermont, Weemes, St. Agnes and St. Vincent schools
USC partner: USC Civic and Community Relations
Program Description: This bilingual, bimonthly newspaper features good news about the USC Family of Schools and the Exposition/University Park community. Graphics driven, the colorful newspaper focuses on positive news and events about the schools, community based programs, and USC community-outreach efforts that are of interest to parents, students and school personnel as well as other area stakeholders. Its goal is to reach the target audience of parents and guardians of the more than 9,600 students who attend five public schools and two parochial schools in the University Park neighborhood.
http://www.usc.edu/ext-relations/ccr/news_pubs/upf.html

USC African Millennium Pen Pal Program: $13,750
Community partner: African Millennium Foundation
USC partner: USC Supplier Diversity Services
Program Description: The Pen Pal Program emphasizes global awareness, social development and the meaning of being a global citizen as tools to improve the student’s writing skills. By improving their writing, the students will have a better chance to succeed in the SATs and therefore, to enroll in college. Using a thematic approach, the program will also encourage our local students to learn and write about peace building to students their age in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

USC Community Computing Program: $27,990
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST and Foshay schools
USC partners: USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative and USC Community Education Academy
Program Description: The community computing program provides bilingual, low-to-no-cost training in the fundamentals of computer use. Graduates of its programs will receive a personal computer to take home. By providing both the training and the computers, USC can better enhance the economic opportunities of the participants, supporting their children’s academic needs, and their community involvement endeavors.

USC Family of Schools In-School Facilitators: $12,500
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, Manual Arts, Norwood, Vermont and Weemes schools
USC partner: USC Civic and Community Relations
Program Description: This grant provides part-time, on-site coordinators of our USC programs at each of the neighborhood schools. The facilitators build student participation, coordinate communication, assist with program scheduling and serve as liaisons between the school staff and USC program administrators to ensure that programs run efficiently.

USC NAI Saturday Academy: $28,255
Community partners: USC Family of Schools: Foshay Learning Center and Manual Arts High School
USC partner: USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative
Program Description: This is a pre-collegiate outreach program that provides participating high school students intense and interactive academic experiences. This includes SAT vocabulary development, writing and mathematics skill building, study skills and test taking skills. Most of the classes take place on the USC campus utilizing the expertise of staff, USC students, certificated LAUSD teachers, parents and volunteers. This year, all 10th grade students passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Most scored at proficient or advanced and 22 out of 41 NAI graduates are attending USC.

USC Neighborhood Debate League: $11,645
Community partner: USC Family of Schools
USC partner: USC Annenberg School for Communication
Program Description: The USC Neighborhood Urban Debate League will create debate method opportunities that encourage critical thinking, analytic and logical reasoning, and applied research skills that can benefit participants pedagogically and augment concurrent educational practices. The program will introduce students to methods of dispute resolution, community building activities, public advocacy, and specialized skills that lead to increased literacy scores.

USC ReadersPlus: $45,675
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, Norwood, Vermont, and Weemes schools
USC partner: USC Joint Educational Project
Program Description: USC ReadersPlus provides one-on-one, after-school tutoring in reading and math to thousands of children in classrooms at our five neighborhood schools over the past 11 years. This also represents meaningful work opportunities for USC work study students.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/readersplus

USC Sea Grant Parent - Child Education Program: $10,086
Community partners: Exposition Park Intergenerational Community Center
USC partner: USC Sea Grant
Program Description: The USC Sea Grant is aimed at making basic science concepts approachable and fun for parent and child together, as well as developing a sense of environmental stewardship, independent thinking, and creative expression through positive action. Many families have never seen the ocean and have no understanding of how their actions in their own neighborhoods impact the marine environment.

VIP CMHC Mentoring and Tutoring Program: $31,500
Community partner: VIP Community Mental Health Center
USC partner: Keck School of Medicine of USC
Program Description: The Mentoring and Tutoring Program offers 4 to 18 year-olds the opportunity to create a strong academic and social foundation for future success by empowering them to be self-sufficient adults. USC mentors contact their little “brother or sister” by phone once a week, get together with the children twice monthly and take them to educational, arts, cultural or outdoor activities. Mentors and tutors make a year-long commitment and serve as positive adult role models to 100 youth every year.

Arts Education

24th Street Theatre - After ‘Cool Theatre Program: $27,300
Community partner: 24th Street Theatre
USC partner: USC School of Theatre
Program Description: 24th Street Theatre is the only professional theatre in the North University Park community that provides professional caliber, off-campus, after-school arts instruction to our community’s youth. This year, students will work on the theme of peace making in a professional theatre environment. Through the program, students will explore how skin color and the way they dress affect how they treat each other and are perceived by others.
http://www.24thstreet.org/artsed/programs.html

Art in the Village: $24,865
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, Norwood, Vermont, John Mack, Weemes, St. Agnes and St. Vincent schools, University Village
USC partners: USC Fisher Museum of Art
Program Description: The purpose of the Art in the Village program is to give students the opportunity to create art, based upon a pre-selected theme, in the classroom. For the 2008 –2009 school year, Art in the Village plans to feature health education, peace building and peace making themes. At a time when the arts are under funded, the Art in the Village program offers quality art supplies and paper free of charge to any teacher who wishes for his or her class to participate. The student art exhibitions are displayed in the University Village and the Fisher Museum of Arts for thousands of local residents as well as USC students, faculty, and staff to view.
http://uscfishermuseumofart.org/index.php?page=programs&action=artInTheVillage

Dance Included Final Showcase: $5,474
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, John Mack, Manual Arts, Norwood, Vermont, Weemes, and St. Agnes schools
USC partner: Dance Included
Program Description: Dance Included is a USC student-run organization that provides the children of these schools with an education in dance, important to their physical and mental development. USC students volunteer an hour each week with the children in our community teaching them the technique and history of a specific style of dance. Students stay healthy and active, providing them with a fun and fulfilling form of exercise as well as an outlet for emotion and stress through choreographed movement.

USC Thornton Jazz Reach: $30,720
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, John Mack, and Manual Arts schools
USC partner: USC Thornton School of Music
Program Description: This after-school program that fosters the development of skills and appreciation of jazz music for approximately 1,250 underserved students from USC neighborhood schools and 70 USC Thornton students. This year, training will involve a focus on communication, peace-making and dispute resolution.
http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/about/signature/outreach/schools/

USC Thornton Outreach Program: $32,620
Community partners: 32nd Street/MAST, Foshay, John Mack, Manual Arts, Murchison, Norwood, Science Center, St. Agnes, Vermont, and Weemes schools
USC partner: USC Thornton School of Music
Program Description: This program will continue to bring comprehensive, weekly, in-school and after-school music education programs into our local schools, benefitting over 3,500 students and community members in the USC neighborhood. This year, the program is planning to hold a Peace Song Composition Contest.
http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/about/signature/outreach/schools/

Sports Education

After School Sports Connection: $50,000
Community partner: After School Sports Connection
USC partners: USC Recreational Sports, USC Civic & Community Relations
Program Description: After School Sports Connection offers high quality after school sports instruction in basketball, soccer, volleyball and martial arts, and Saturday morning swim classes. ASSC fills the gap between the time school ends and the time parents get home from work with safe, productive and healthy programming. This year, ASSC is considering expanding to serve the Health Sciences campus and a few other elementary schools.
http://sait.usc.edu/recsports/site_content/community/assc.html

Kids in Sports & KISFit Grant : $36,000
Community partner: Kids in Sports
USC partner: USC TRIO Programs
Program Description: In conjunction with the USC-sponsored After School Sports Connection, Kids In Sports offers parent-led, after-school and weekend sports opportunities for more than 1,000 low-income boys and girls between the ages of 5-17 in the University Park area. For many children, this is the only opportunity for regular physical activity and access to the neighborhood’s limited play and practice facilities. Youngsters participate in volleyball and swimming as well as skills clinics, practices and competitions in basketball and soccer.

NYSP Trojan Kids Camp : $19,440
Community partners: Foshay, Manual Arts, Norwood, and Weemes schools, Blazers Youth Center, EPICC, Kids In Sports
USC partner: USC Recreational Sports
Program Description: An instructional program addressing almost 200 boys and girls from low-income households. The program uses sports instruction and competition as a vehicle to enhance self-esteem, to promote respect, to reinforce the importance of education and to promote healthy lifestyles.
http://sait.usc.edu/recsports/site_content/community/nysptk.html

Safety

Block by Block Initiative: Building a Peaceful Los Angeles: $45,000
Community partners: Norwood Elementary School, Peace Games
USC partner: USC Civic & Community Relations
Program Description: This initiative is aimed at expanding their proven Peace Games model into K-12 schools in a seven-square-mile area of South and East Los Angeles, covering the USC Family of Schools and the HSC Partner Schools. USC and Peace Games are now ready to launch this pilot project that will eventually lead to a comprehensive community response to preventing violence and engaging thousands of young people and families with the critical skills of conflict resolution and civic engagement.

Parks for Peace: Bringing Peace to Parks and Communities in South Los Angeles: $46,500
Community partner: Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust
USC partner: USC Center for Sustainable Cities
Program Description: The Parks for Peace program will focus their efforts in the areas of peace building, conflict resolution and immigrant civic engagement to ensure that residents create pathways for revitalizing their community and parks for the long term.

Peace Games: $30,815
Community partners: Norwood Elementary School, Peace Games
USC partner: USC Joint Educational Project
Program Description: In partnership with the Joint Educational Project, the program will assign two advanced Social Work student-interns who will coordinate the Peace Games program at Norwood. Peace Games is a school-wide violence prevention program that teaches elementary school students to be proactive peacemakers through interactive games and community-service projects. It also engages parents/guardians, school staff, community members and volunteers in changing school culture in order to create a safer and more peaceful environment in which to live, work, and learn.
http://www.peacegames.org/

USC Street Law Foundation: $5,000
Community partner: Foshay Learning Center
USC partner: USC Gould School of Law
Program Description: Through Street Law, mentoring USC law students work with inner-city high school students to teach legal literacy, respect for law and its institutions, offer counsel and advice on higher education. The “Homicide: Life on the Streets” teaching program educates students about school bullying, the law of self-defense, trying juveniles as adults, the law of search and seizure and more invaluable life lessons. All of these programs facilitate dialogue about juvenile justice issues among students, parents and school staff.

Health

A Fotonovela on Dementia: $28,970
Community partner: Clinica Msr. Oscar A. Romero
USC partner: USC School of Pharmacy
Program Description: This project seeks to develop an effective health communication tool to increase knowledge of dementia among low income, low literacy Latino families in the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park Campus and the Health Sciences Campus. Information about dementia, diagnostic process, available treatments, and research opportunities for new medications, as well as the services available in the community will be provided to dispel myths associated with dementia and assist families in caring for family members.

Building Community Support for a Farmers Market at Norwood : $20,000
Community partner: Norwood Street Elementary School
USC partner: Keck School of Medicine of USC
Program Description: This program is a pilot project in collaboration with Southland Farmers’ Markets Association and the Los Angeles Unified School District to explore how schools and farmers’ markets can collaborate to develop strategies for operating markets on school campuses. The new farmers market will provide greater viability for a source of fresh, affordable food in a community that lacks adequate places to access these healthy items and improved awareness of the role that diet can play in combating obesity and diabetes.

FUENTE Initiative: $5,500
Community partners: Bravo, Griffin, Murchison, and Sheridan schools, East Los Angeles Skills Center, East Los Angeles Occupational Center
USC partner: USC School of Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics
Program Description: The project uses the educational resources of the USC School of Pharmacy to coordinate local pharmacists and student pharmacists to provide specific poison prevention, appropriate drug-use and self-management education. Children and parents in the local East Los Angeles community will be provided with health awareness programs, fairs and health screenings to improve knowledge of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, HIV/AIDS, healthy pregnancy, STDs, etc.
http://www.usc.edu/community/health_care/fuente_initiative/index.html

Healthy Eating Living and Playing Kids Program (H.E.L.P.): $19,210
Community partners: John Mack and Sheridan Elementary schools
USC partner: USC Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice
Program Description: H.E.L.P. empowers elementary school children to make healthy lifestyle decisions within the context of their daily school and environment. Children participate in a Lifestyle Redesign® activity and education group regarding daily habits, nutrition, physical activity, barriers, etc. Weekly mailings, phone calls to parents, outings to the grocery store and restaurants provide hands-on activities to help children implement the program’s principles in a real-life context.

HSC Community Health Fair: $14,365
Community partners: Bravo, Griffin, Murchison, and Sheridan schools
USC partner: USC Civic & Community Relations
Program Description: The Community Health Fair is the annual signature event to provide preventive health services and screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mammograms, dental, vision, exercise, Healthy Families, and clinic referrals. Information booths run by almost 200 volunteers provide access to these services to over 1,100 local parents, school children and community residents. The project will continue to expand community outreach capacity of departments and programs and strengthen USC’s role in the community.

USC Health & Science Expo 2008: $14,554
Community partners: Griffin, Murchison, and Sheridan schools
USC partner: USC Civic & Community Relations
Program Description: This program introduces children at our HSC Partner Schools to basic science and health principles, curriculum and potential careers. Approximately 350 local fifth graders participate each year in hands-on science and health education sessions led by 12 USC students. During the fair, students enthusiastically presented their projects to other students and to a panel of judges.

USC Neighborhood Mobile Van Prevention Project: $18,000
Community partners: Griffin, John Mack, Murchison, Science Center, and St. Agnes schools
USC partner: USC School of Dentistry
Program Description: This grant allows the mobile dental clinic to purchase the necessary supplies to provide preventative oral health services and referrals to elementary school children using the mobile dental van onsite at the USC Family of Schools and HSC Partner Schools. This year’s goal is to increase the oral health access to 1,500 children.
http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/community

USC Physical Therapy Fit Families Program: $11,342
Community partners: Bravo, El Sereno, Griffin, Murchison, and Sheridan schools
USC partner: USC Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
Program Description: The program’s mission is to provide pro-bono preventive, wellness, and rehabilitative physical therapy services to underserved elementary, middle, and high school aged children in the local community who are diagnosed with or at higher risk for diabetes and conditions associated with physical inactivity. In partnership with the community, intervention will focus on culturally relevant personalized and structured nutritional, exercise and physical activity-related education for children in collaboration with their families to enhance potential for long-term lifestyle change.
http://pt.usc.edu/SubLayout.aspx?menu_id=44&id=46

USC Troy Camp: $20,700
Community partner: USC Family of Schools, Martin Luther King Elementary School
USC partner: USC Office of Student Affairs
Program Description: After providing approximately 200 children with a funded week long camp experience, Troy Camp continues improving its program with a year of events and socials. Troy Camp’s “Commitment to Friendship” is reinforced through frequent mentor-child interactions during field trips and fun activities that expose children to new and meaningful opportunities.
http://www.troycamp.org/

Updated October 2008