COMMUNITY SERVICE : Clinton Plan Has Familiar Ring at USC : University Launched Topping Fund After Watts Riots to Aid Cash-Strapped Scholars

Last week, President Clinton--following through on a campaign promise--unveiled a proposal for a national service plan that he said would foster a new civic spirit and help pay for the cost of college education. If approved by Congress, the program would begin this summer with a $15-million pilot project. The Administration expects the price tag to grow to $7.4 billion after its first four years. But for 23 years, one version of Clinton’s plan has been field-tested at the University of Southern California. The Norman Topping Student Aid Fund provides partial scholarship money to undergraduates and graduates who face economic hardship. In return, the students are required to perform a minimum of 20 hours of community service per semester. USC students Ron McDuffie and Dan Smith conceived the idea for the Topping Fund after the 1965 Watts Riots. Students approved the plan, with funding coming from a $4--now $5--fee charged to all full-time USC registrants. Backing the plan was then-USC President Norman Topping, who announced a onetime, 2-for-1 financial backing from the USC Associates, bringing the original endowment to $600,000. Since 1970, 500 students have received $3.5 million in aid from the Topping fund. A board, consisting mostly of Topping scholars, selects 25 students each year from a field of about 250. In the fall of 1991, the fund’s participants boasted a graduation rate of 78%, compared to USC’s overall rate of 59.4%. These Topping students were interviewed by David Dorion.

Boris Ricks: 27, Ph.D . candidate in political science “With Norman Topping, we get an opportunity to bridge that gap and tear down the stereotype between the university and the community. The students involved in the program are some of the highest-regarded scholars on campus through both their grades and extracurricular activities.

“My community service work is at the Challengers Boys Club at 52nd and Vermont, where I coach flag football and tutor in history and social science. It is truly a family situation. I went to a rural black college in Mississippi. You get a real appreciation for Los Angeles being there.

“Chris, a senior at Fairfax High School, who was on the football team with the student killed in the recent shooting, is one young man I’ve worked with at the Boys Club. He wanted to transfer. I gave him counseling, telling him to think positively, to just stick it out--which he has done--by staying at Fairfax. But that’s just one of the examples, which are multifaceted. The payback overall is that you are volunteering services to a sector that has not been served.

“I wouldn’t trade my experience with the fund for the world. I could have received a scholarship to Harvard, but Norman Topping at USC, I think, is equivalent as far as having me involved with the community. This diversity is what America is going to look like in the future.”

Thao Dang: 20, junior, bio science “The Topping Fund is helpful with money, but I also benefit from it in the sense of the fund having a family environment. It helps (offset) with how impersonal USC can be.

“I do my community service with the Asian Pacific Immigration Center in Monterey Park, where I help Asian immigrants adjust to life in America. I assist them in filling out applications, help them with family counseling and alleviation of some of the negatives and common disillusionment that is associated with achieving the American Dream.

“One person I’ve helped at the Asian Pacific Immigration Center came to the United States alone as a 16-year-old Vietnamese boat person. We assisted her in finding a foster family, who in turn, not only helped her learn English, but helped her become accustomed to life in America. Now she is 19 and in pharmacy school.

“The benefit of this is helping someone like this woman become self-reliant. With the assistance I have provided, she doesn’t have to rely on any social services.

“I hope to study either dentistry or medicine after receiving my undergraduate degree from USC. Through the foundation, which gives me the opportunity to meet people from the community, I utilize my knowledge of Vietnamese. I believe that although Spanish will be a common language in Los Angeles, one day soon, people will have to learn some sort of Asian language like Japanese or Vietnamese to communicate with the influx of Asian immigrants who come here.”

Vivian Hernandez: 43, graduate student, sociology “I am a single parent who is regarded as one of the re-entry students involved in the Topping Student Aid Foundation. I know that if it weren’t for the Topping Fund, I would not have the opportunity to attend USC.

“Last year, I graduated from Cal State Los Angeles. I knew then my plans involved graduate studies in social work. I found the Topping Fund to be (beneficial) to my studies, especially when taking into context the fact that USC has a well-regarded social studies program.

“MERCI (Mentally and Educationally Retarded Citizens Inc. in Monterey Park) has a variety of programs to assist mentally and physically challenged individuals. I am involved with the extended day-care program, where I care for children of physically disabled parents. The program benefits parents who are disabled, yet need to carry on with their work.

“The idea of parents is what immediately becomes beneficial to my work at MERCI. To be there and listen and give support has been very satisfying. Being the mother of a developmentally disabled child, I share experiences with other parents who have disabled children.

“When working in the classroom, it doesn’t matter if the children are handicapped or ‘normal.’ When you connect with a child, you don’t see the disability. This has allowed me to further see a disabled child in the same light as any other child. The fact that I see them progress is very fulfilling. It exists as the payoff for me.”

Carl Beverly: 20, junior, business admin. “I am a third-year Topping Fund recipient. I work in the community while being president of the Black Student’s Business Assn. What we’re asked to return as far as 20 hours of service is not much compared to what we’re receiving in the way of money. It’s cyclical. On this campus it is easy to get lost, not realizing that you are in the middle of a very diverse city.

“This program allows students who have and haven’t been involved in the community to reach out and touch the people who they would not ordinarily come in contact with. It also allows you not to make your life so academic.

“Norman Topping is totally against that. Norman Topping is all about reaching out, pulling back, helping and lifting up. The scholarship lets you know up front you’re going to have to care.

“Anyone involved in this program has to be a certain caliber of person. The program constantly monitors grades and performance in the community service. You are an elite--not in an arrogant way--but in a way of knowing that you care about your community, that you’re taking care of your academics and you’re socially involved.”

Kelly Flores: 21, senior, business

“My volunteer work is with the Glendale/La Crescenta Valley chapter of the American Red Cross. At the Red Cross, I am involved in a leadership training program for youth in the community. Through my work, I have learned to not only set goals, but have also gained exposure to various cultures and the importance of communication skills which are vital to aspects of management. I need to be doing things. As an individual, there is so much we can contribute. I am the youngest of three, from a single-parent home, with a sister in medical school.

“The (Basic Aid Training) course I teach to fourth- and fifth-graders is one experience that shows me the value of the work I do for the Red Cross. For example, one fourthgrader, named Eliel, who I had in my class, helped provide general care to an infant who was experiencing respiratory problems.

“The benefit of this is I’m giving a service that can be returned to others, that for the children, at least, it becomes cyclical.

“I have been on the Dean’s List throughout my four years at USC. The Topping Fund is more of a supportive network.

“In the summer of 1992, I went to Spain to volunteer as a delegate at the International Red Cross. There I was a tour guide, showing people the history of the Red Cross. I do get tired between my work at school and my volunteer time at the Red Cross, but regardless of the hard work, a greater vision is involved.”