USC Kid Watch & Safety Task Force Programs

Community safety

South LA

Applying a proven solution to a new issue or sector (using an existing model, tool, resource, strategy, etc. for a new purpose)

While the USC Kid Watch and Safety Task Force has existed since 1996. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic we have learned of many new safety concerns that are impacting our youngest and most vulnerable students in ways that local schools or families cannot keep up with. By working with our safety partners and recruiting over 130 local resident volunteers, the program has introduced initiatives that address growing concerns. Issues like Internet Safety for K-12 students and their parents who may be exposed to online scams, created trainings for residents as well as a first of its kind Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention summit bringing together over 500 participants from local communities, survivor-focused non-profits, and law enforcement agencies from around the world. We also re-established a volunteer-led Safety Valet and safety corridors program at each of our participating schools that looks after elementary aged students as they walk to or are dropped off at their schools.

We hope to expand our efforts in Safety Valet operations through more training and resource support, such as the purchase of additional safety equipment for the schools and our volunteers to utilize each morning. We also support our volunteers with refreshments after they finish their duties early mornings and provide a yearly acknowledgment of their efforts through an event called the Member Appreciation Picnic. At this convening, hundreds of family members rally around neighborhood safety outcomes and celebrate the members of the volunteer teams. We also aim to increase the number of parents and family members who have access to our Internet Safety trainings and convenings. Currently, we stand at over 280 families who have taken the training in the last 11 months alone! We now wish to expand these presentations into local LAUSD schools, with permission, to speak to students directly as well. On the USC campus in one of our outreach programs - the USC Kinder2College program in the we have reached over 50 students in our first ever student training and want to do much more. Lastly, our newest initiative aims to enlighten families and students about the dangers of Human Traffickers in the area. We train on protecting themselves and potential victims of sexual exploitation by carrying out safety walks, reporting suspicious individuals they encounter attempting to entice them, and dispelling the myths around this misunderstood crime that is rapidly growing across Los Angeles.

Our efforts aim to involve community in the reshaping of their neighborhoods to be safer spaces for everyone to carry out their daily lives, thereby supporting their economic and generational advancement. We are inclusive of all ages from the youngest students through fun interactive events that teach them about safe walking habits to the more experienced individuals that reside in these communities by providing them with trainings/equipment to take an active role in the betterment of their own and their fellow residents' lives. Los Angeles recently had an alarming year for deaths due to traffic accidents, LAPD also recently arrested 264 individuals suspected of child abuse online, and the Federal Government along with city officials named Los Angeles "ground-zero in the growth of Human Trafficking". The betterment of our most vulnerable neighborhoods cannot be undertaken by city officials and law enforcement alone, we aim to involve the communities themselves in this mission.