USC : One-Stop Referral Center Assists Area

USC just made information shopping easier.

The USC Neighborhood Resource Center serves the community as a one-stop, bilingual information and referral center for social, educational and health services offered by USC and a network of other organizations.

“We have some of the best kept secrets that the community is not aware of,” said Elizabeth Diaz, a former chief deputy to Councilman Mike Hernandez who now heads the center.

Located in the University Village Shopping Center at Hoover Street and Jefferson Boulevard, the center is administered by the USC School of Social Work. It is funded by a $500,000 grant from USC alumnus George Handtmann.

Through a partnership with the Info Line of Los Angeles County, the center assists residents and organizations within an area bounded by Washington Boulevard on the north, Vernon Avenue on the south, Main Street on the east and Western Avenue on the west.

“A lot of the time people need information, but don’t know where to get it,” Diaz said.

For instance, one service rarely tapped is the 19-year-old USC James A. Peterson Human Relations Center, which provides low-cost therapy for children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens who are having personal or family-related problems.

Info Line specialists refer callers to that organization’s database of more than 4,500 human service providers in Los Angeles County, and also to about 200 USC-sponsored programs.

Early next year, USC graduate students in social work, education, dentistry, medicine, nursing and public administration will help assess which needs require more than a referral. They will develop a client profile and develop a plan of assistance.

Diaz said many of the calls the center has received since it opened in May have been from people seeking emergency housing and food.

Angel Arias, 28, said the resource center was “heaven sent” when he found himself unemployed and with a stack of bills. Arias was referred to the center by the city Housing Authority.

A staff member at the center referred Arias to a South-Central housing project director who found Arias, his wife and daughter a two-bedroom apartment for $450 a month near Florence Avenue and Broadway.

“That’s exactly what I needed,” said Arias, who is seeking employment in civil service. “The center is invaluable. More people should know about it.”

Information: (213) 743-2390.