Select the images to be directed to the center/institute's website. 

The Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement equips faith leaders to transform underserved communities. Through capacity building and consultative services, the center helps leaders and their organizations become full partners in social change through community development and civic engagement work.

The primary goal of the USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society is to share our ideas about how AI can be used to tackle the most difficult societal problems. We believe that this agenda can best be tackled by a genuine partnership between AI and social work. 

In October 2013, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and the Viterbi School of Engineering hosted an event for faculty in social work who were interested in technology and faculty in engineering who were interested in social problems. 

CESR is a center within the USC Dana and David Dornsife School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Our research taps into the breadth and depth of disciplines at USC, even as we contribute to its stellar reputation as a powerhouse research university. 

We focus unsparing attention on economic and health disparities, social inequality, the needs of children, families and older Americans. Our research explores the impact of social services and public policy, shifting population trends and their implications, and how human behavior -- our attitudes, actions, and ability to make decisions -- affects our well-being now and as we age.

The USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement’s mission is to equip faith leaders to transform underserved communities. The Murray Center provides leaders in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods in Southern California with capacity building and consultative services, so that faith communities can become full partners in social change.

The Change Making Media Lab (CMML) mission is to foster positive social and environmental change by promoting research on effective media techniques and creating strategic high-impact cinema, television, and multi-media visual imagery to inspire individuals, organizations, and communities into action. CMML’s vision is to engage community members to leverage the power of the cinematic arts to achieve their goals including areas of health, sustainability, and social justice. 

The Children’s Data Network is a data and research collaborative focused on the linkage and analysis of administrative records. In partnership with public agencies, philanthropic funders, and community stakeholders, we seek to generate knowledge and advance evidence-rich policies that will improve the health, safety, and well-being of our children.

Research

Solving the complex, wicked health problems requires talented people from various backgrounds to work together. USC researchers, clinicians, scientists, and students collaborate with D-Health partners on interdisciplinary projects to create practical solutions to challenges facing health systems and public health agencies.

Smart and Healthy City Initiative

USC D-Health and the Milken Institute are partnering on a Smart and Healthy City Initiative to focus on improving quality of life and healthcare equality by tackling public health challenges such as homelessness and recidivism. By collaborating with City/County agencies, community based organizations, think-tanks, and technology companies, D-Health is developing solutions to securely utilize sensitive data to inform policy and improve care.  

Data Research Program

D-Health provides USC scientists, researchers, and clinicians with an opportunity to prototype new ideas using health data in a safe environment. D-Health is collaborating with industry partners to develop infrastructure to enable secure health data research.

Community Initiatives

D-Health is creating a thriving healthcare innovation ecosystem in Southern California by bringing together entrepreneurs, clinicians, scientists, healthcare executives, public officials, policymakers, investors, and industry partners. Through a series of events, conferences, and lectures, D-Health facilitates collaborative ideation, design, and the launch of new initiatives.

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services advances science by guiding innovation in human services interventions.

The mission of the Hamovitch Research Center is to support faculty engaged in basic and applied research focused on the needs, behaviors and problems of groups which are vulnerable in society because of their at-risk status, and to study the service delivery systems related to these populations.

The newly launched Homelessness Policy Research Institute convenes researchers and policymakers to help design and coordinate timely, relevant, and actionable research to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. The Homelessness Policy Research Institute is a partnership between the USC Price Center for Social Innovation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Home for Good Initiative.

Established to create dialogue, spark ideas, inspire deep thinking, and support important and profound interdisciplinary, interfaith research rooted in the rich Catholic intellectual tradition.

Religions and Homelessness High Level Roundtable

The mission of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics is to motivate students to become active in the world of politics and encourage public officials to participate in the daily life of USC.

POSC 395 Research Project: Homelessness in Los Angeles
In the POSC 395 California Policy Research Internship, students work collaboratively with community partners to develop policy solutions to real world challenges.

Understanding Homelessness Through Service

The USC Lusk Center for Real Estate seeks to advance real estate knowledge, inform business practice, and address timely issues that affect the real estate industry, the urban economy, and public policy.

The Lusk Center produces relevant real estate research, supports educational programs, and convenes professional forums that bring together academics, students, business executives, and community leaders.

The Media Institute for Social Change (MISC) is a non-profit, Emmy Award winning organization focused on promoting the use of media for positive social change through content creation, scholarships, education and research to present and future media content creators. 

MISC aims to be a leader in advancing thought, discussion, and experimentation of how various forms of media can be utilized most effectively to influence maximum social impact. 

In November 2011, Price Philanthropies made an extraordinary $50 million gift to the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy to honor the life and legacy of Sol Price, founder of Price Club. This gift also launched the USC Price Center for Social Innovation. The gift reflected a remarkable alignment between Sol Price’s life and legacy, the Price School's mission, and the work of the Price Center for Social Innovation. 

With a generous bequest from the Pullias Family estate, the Earl and Pauline Pullias Center for Higher Education at the USC Rossier School of Education has been established (the center was previously known as the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis). The gift allows one of the world’s leading research centers on higher education to continue its tradition of focusing on research, policy, and practice to improve the field.

Dr. Earl V. Pullias was one of the founding faculty of USC’s department of higher education in 1957. He was the author of more than 100 research articles, primarily focused on philosophical issues in higher education, and the author and co-author of numerous books.

The Sak Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics is a think tank founded to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research among scholars and policymakers around issues of mental illness and mental health.  As a research institute, the goal is to study issues at the intersection of law, mental health, and ethics as well as influence policy reform and advocacy actions for improved treatment of people with mental illness.  Ultimately, an interdisciplinary approach to these important issues will promote a society of well-rounded persons who work with deep satisfaction and integrity and enjoy a clear mind. 

The issue of homelessness and housing are top of mind for likely California voters leading into the March 3 Primary Election, according to a new statewide poll conducted by the USC Price School of Public Policy and the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. In an open-ended unaided question, respondents put homelessness or housing as their top issue (22.9%), followed by climate change (14.8%) and immigration (9.2%).

The USC Price – USC Schwarzenegger Institute Poll on Homelessness in California

The Spacial Sciences Institute collaborates with a cross-cutting array of researchers, businesses, non-profits, NGOs, and other entities from a wide range of disciplines and industries to analyze, model, and visualize location-based data.