USC campaign kicks off this month
USC’s annual Good Neighbors campaign kicks off this month with a goal of raising $1.3 million through employee gifts and pledges.
Last year, USC faculty and staff raised a record $1.2 million to benefit local children and improve their neighborhoods. USC President Steven B. Sample launched the program in 1995, two years after he became president, making neighborhood safety, education, housing, employment and economic development a priority.
President C.L. Max Nikias is continuing the tradition. “When people in our community need help, Trojans do not stand idly by,” he said. “We step up to the challenge. We go above and beyond the call of duty. And we aim for loftier goals in the future.”
Nikias congratulated Trojans on raising more than $11 million for the campaign over the last 15 years and promised that, as president, he would continue the strong endorsement of Good Neighbors that he demonstrated as a dean and provost.
Thomas S. Sayles, USC vice president of government and civic engagement, is the co-chair of this year’s campaign, along with interim provost Elizabeth Garrett, who is also a USC Law professor.
The law-school sponsored group – the Street Law Foundation – was launched through the Good Neighbors Initiative. A nationally recognized educational outreach program, Street Law teaches legal literacy skills to the public.
The teaching program is structured so that Street Law teachers "team teach," a lesson from the curriculum "Street Law, A Course in Practical Law." Through these lessons, volunteer law students -some with teaching backgrounds - have educated students about school bullying, the law of self-defense, trying juveniles as adults, the law of search and seizure and many more invaluable life lessons.
This is just one of more than 300 grants that have been awarded since the campaign’s inception.
All of it was made possible because of the generosity of USC employees. Last year more than 4,000 donated to the program, and 450 pledged 1 percent or more of their salaries.
Nearly 100 staff and faculty members volunteer as campaign leaders to get the word out about the effort and inspire colleagues to donate.
At USC Law, Scott Altman is representing the faculty, Gilien Silsby is representing the staff and Lydia Arakaki is representing the library staff.
Every donated dollar goes directly to the programs that focus on health, safety and education because the university covers all of the campaign’s administrative costs.
For information about the Good Neighbors Campaign, including a full list of programs funded, visit http://www.usc.edu/ext-relations/gnc/where_your_money_goes/