All Research Topics

The USC Price Center for Social Innovation brings an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to social innovation research. Through relevant, rigorous research, Price Center faculty explore a variety of topics that seek to inform and advance new models of equity and opportunity for low-income children and families.

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The Social Innovation Trap: Critical Insights into an Emerging Field
Emergency Aid Programs at USC and LACCD
Education
An Evaluation of the Emergency Aid Programs at the University of Southern California and Los Angeles Community College District

In its third year of implementation, the Leonetti/ O’Connell Family Foundation’s emergency aid programs at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) have continued to provide direct cash assistance to students experiencing financial hardships.

Research
Criminal Justice
Building Safety In Los Angeles: A Policy Agenda For Local Health and Safer Communitie

This report aims to assist jurisdictions trying to reimagine public safety through focusing on key policy areas, and applies policy frameworks to present day Los Angeles.

Research
Housing Instability
Accelerating Employment Retention Strategies for the Precariously Housed

This report outlines the findings from the project’s activities including an employer survey, Innovation Lab sessions, and case studies

Research
Education
The Segregation Index

The Segregation Index will be a comprehensive resource for tracking neighborhood and school segregation in the U.S., across every neighborhood and every school.

Research
Inequality
Resilience and Rebuilding: Recommendations for an Equitable Recovery in South L.A.

This report examines ways to improve pandemic recovery and to remove pre-pandemic barriers in South Los Angeles.

Research
Inequality
Examining the Complex Social Safety Net For Low-Income Working Families

This report examines the resources and benefits available to families and identifies the points at which the social safety net may become a barrier to economic independence.

Research SIB
Social Innovation
Social Impact Bonds 2.0

The complexity of social problems, paired with constrained public resources, requires social innovators to identify new approaches for financing the delivery of social services.

Top Los Angeles County Public Schools for Underserved Students

Innovate Public Schools, USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation, USC Rossier School of Education

Year: 2019

Our Top Public Schools for Underserved Students report highlights those schools closing the achievement gap for low-income African American and Latino students in Los Angeles County. Since 2015, we have produced this report annually for Bay Area schools. This is our first … Continue reading →

California Dreaming: The New Dynamism in Immigration Federalism and Opportunities for Inclusion on a Variegated Landscape

Roberto Suro

Journal on Migration and Human Security

Year: 2018

Interactions between local, state and federal governments as regards immigration policies began to undergo a dramatic change with the passage of Proposition 187 in California in 1994. Seemingly settled issues over the relative prerogatives of different levels of government and … Continue reading →

Payment by Results and Social Impact Bonds: Outcome-based payment systems in the UK and US

Kevin Albertson, Chris Fox, Chris O'Leary, and Gary Painter

University Press Scholarship Online

Year: 2018

Pay for Success is an approach to contracting that ties payment for service delivery to the achievement of measurable outcomes. Private investors provide upfront financing for a social service and are repaid with a return on investment by a back-end … Continue reading →

Do hybrid firms out-provide traditional business structures? An examination of prosocial behavior in North Carolina firms

Alexandra Graddy Reed

USC Price Center for Social Innovation

Year: 2018

Hybrid organizations are organizations that employ a for-profit model with a social mission. In recent years, there has been a push to create formal legal designations that protect the organization’s social mission while allowing it to access investment capital and … Continue reading →

Pay For Success

Year: 2018

A concise introduction to the “pay for success” model with resource links for additional study.

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