By Ethan Ward On the first day of 2020, the unresponsive body of Corinna Ortega, a Latina woman, was discovered by a friend in a tent in Parnell Park in Whittier. The coroner would rule that Corinna, 22, died of a fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose. That same …
Promising Approaches Support Affordable Housing
Here’s how to fill the regional gap in housing: Use a Community Land Trust Does your community have insufficient affordable housing? Do you want a healthier neighborhood with better civic engagement of residents? Do you need to preserve lower cost housing to address disparities for …
Help Us Champion Housing as a Human Right
It is time to declare that housing is a human right and ensure access to this basic human need for all people. We know that lack of access to housing reduces life expectancy by an average of 20 years and harms health in multiple ways. It …
Students Make An Impact: Building a South LA COVID-19 Support Network
“I learned about the value of connecting people and organizations with much-needed resources during times of crisis,” reported one student studying towards a master’s degree in preventive medicine and interning with a new south LA project. As the COVID 19 pandemic closed businesses and locked people in their homes …
You can just ask
The homeless need government services, but they also need jackets and socks. Home-cooked leftovers? Nope. NITA LELYVELD I had some questions I needed answered so I went in search of experts, not in nonprofit or government offices but on a dirt slope beside the southbound …
Helping The Homeless
USC Viterbi writing students offer engineering solutions to a local provider of homeless services to improve operations.
We Must Address Trauma
It has been noted by researchers and highlighted by the federal government on the SAMHA website, that trauma plays a significant role in the lives of people who become and remain homeless. Many have experienced violence or abuse personally or witnessed it around them in their …
USC Trojan Plans to Offer Showers & First Aid
“I want to be a servant leader”, insists Orion Brutoco, a second-year MSW student at the USC Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work, who is passionate about serving our unhoused neighbors living on the street. “As students, we can help restore both health and …
Resources for the Classroom
Resources for the Classroom We encourage you to consider spending a small amount of time at some point during the semester to integrate some discussion of homelessness into the course(s) you teach. While homelessness is simply defined by the lack of stable housing, the causes …
Trailblazers Perform: “We Raise Our Voice and Become One Spirit”
“This week was the most impactful of my college experience”, Thornton School of Music student singer “It felt so good to sing and be treated and valued as a person”, Urban Voices Project Singer “Homeless, not helpless… reach out your hand to one another…sharing is …