Social Work and Juvenile Justice minor offered a major shift in perspective for graduates

USC is one of the first universities in the nation to offer a criminal justice concentration specifically focused on youth. The Social Work and Juvenile Justice undergraduate minor offered by the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work provides curriculum that combines students’ passion for social advocacy with greater understanding of its impact at the juvenile level where systems involvement typically begins.

The minor is open to all USC undergraduates, regardless of discipline, and has seen a wide range of students enrolled since its launch in 2020, including law, behavioral health sciences, policy and business majors. The goal is to create a pipeline of socially conscious, motivated professionals who are able to apply a social work lens to a variety of practices. For the 11 students earning their undergraduate degrees from USC with this minor in the Class of 2025, spanning five schools and nine different majors, it provided a significant shift in perspective as they launch their professional careers. 

According to Cameron Green, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, who had planned to become a clinical psychologist, the minor completely changed the direction of her further education, career and life. 

“The minor helped me discover a deeper calling to provide therapy for children and teens experiencing homelessness or living in poverty,” Green said. “The courses and community work I’ve done clarified my purpose and shifted my goals in the best way possible. Without Dr. Hernandez and the minor, I would be taking a very different path after graduation.” 

Green decided to pursue her Master of Social Work (MSW) as a result of acquiring a deeper understanding of the dynamics impacting at-risk youth. She begins her advanced degree in fall 2025 to build on what she learned in the minor. 

“This minor is designed for students who want to increase their knowledge of the systems and service environments adversely affecting youth,” said Assistant Teaching Professor Robert Hernandez, who spearheaded the creation of the minor and its curriculum. “It helps students start to discover some of the challenges, the policies that exacerbate those challenges and generally dig deeper into the root causes and how to effect change.” 

Energized by the vibrant classroom of a global city

Whether they grew up across the country or just a few miles from the USC campus, one of the strengths of the minor that the students consistently point to is the opportunity to experience all the complexities of the university’s Los Angeles home. 

Ingrid Hernandez, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from USC Marshall School of Business, grew up in South Central Los Angeles but had never been far beyond the borders of her own community. The minor increased her appreciation of myriad factors affecting youth across Los Angeles, as well as inspiring her to create potential solutions she can try to implement within her community. 

“Most of the issues we learned about have affected some of my family members, younger siblings or high school friends,” Ingrid Hernandez said. “I really want to see how I can help my own community in the future.”

Green grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina in what she describes as a “bubble” amid privilege she was not fully aware of at the time. During her time at USC, she volunteered with School on Wheels tutoring children experiencing homelessness in the Skid Row community, and assisted with the annual Tri-County Collaborative Community Safety Conference which aims to tackle violence prevention in Los Angeles. These experiences widened her perspectives on Los Angeles populations as well as the potential for application of what she was learning in the Social Work and Juvenile Justice minor. 

“I realized that that even though we may be talking about one population, it applies to several,” Green said. “That’s when things started to click with what I want to do. In the social work minor, once you know what you’re interested in, you can narrow in on it within the classes.” 

Robert Hernandez actively partners with youth organizations across Los Angeles and routinely brings guest speakers into the classroom who represent the full spectrum of involvement with youth criminal justice system. With a focus on Los Angeles, students in the minor hear about first-hand experiences from former gang members, police officers, community activists and U.S. congressional representatives. 

“Partnering with the community promotes a richer, more in-depth view,” Robert Hernandez said. “I believe this is what a true cross-sector approach to change looks like. The students are able to look critically and analyze social problems to discover plausible solutions that go beyond the systems of youth incarceration.”

Nontraditional applications beyond social work

Even for those students who do not plan to pursue careers directly related to social work, the minor provides an opportunity to explore how to practically apply social work values and skills into their chosen professions 

“I wanted to learn how to support historically marginalized communities beyond theoretical frameworks,” said Clarissa Rosales, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies from USC Gould School of Law. “The minor stood out to me for its focus on real-world application, especially in areas like gang intervention, community-based support and systemic issues within the juvenile justice system.” 

Rosales plans to work within a community nonprofit setting focused on youth advocacy before applying to law school with the goal of becoming a public-interest attorney. 

“The minor gave me insight into the social work principles that are essential for truly successful activism — such as empathy, systems thinking, and meeting people where they are,” Rosales said. “In the long term, I want to combine my legal knowledge as an attorney with the people-centered strategies I gained from the minor to advocate in a way that is both effective and deeply respectful of the communities I serve.”

For Ingrid Hernandez, the minor fused her career interests and personal values together. 

“While my major in business administration focuses on the corporate and strategic side of organizations, the social work side provided a welcoming environment where I found like-minded individuals equally committed to serving underserved populations,” Ingrid Hernandez said. This experience allowed me to connect my interest in helping others with a deeper understanding of social impact.” 

One experience during her studies in the minor that made a particular impression on Ingrid Hernandez was a class visit to Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit in Los Angeles that has provided training and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated people for over 30 years. It exposed her to a new way in which her business education could intersect with her social values. 

“As a Los Angeles native, it was especially meaningful to engage with such an influential local organization for the first time,” Ingrid Hernandez said. “I could directly see how I could apply what I’ve learned for my business degree in terms of strategic analysis and planning. This minor helped me to understand the problems many communities face and how organizations can make a difference.”

From theory to practice

One aspect all the student in the minor unequivocally express is an exceptional experience in the program that opened their eyes to dynamics many had never experienced before. A number of the students who complete the minor decide to pursue their MSW and become professional social workers. As one of the only programs of its kind in the nation, in the past five years of its existence at USC more than 60 undergraduate students have completed the minor, and over 500 added at least one course to their degree studies.

Kharee Hoggs, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from USC Dornsife, had considered pursuing a career in law, but discovered through her studies in the minor that her purpose lay with helping communities to heal. Hoggs found that the range of guest speakers brought into class by Robert Hernandez widened her knowledge of the scope and scale of social work practice and inspired an interest in pursuing program management as well as direct service. 

“We were exposed to powerful people with years of experience in the social work realm and similar sectors,” Hoggs said. “Each guest offered invaluable insight and advice on how to navigate serving people for a living, better preparing me for the emotionally demanding field of social work and inspiring me to maintain my passion for creating change and being a part of support systems.”

Her mother began working in social services the year before Hoggs left for college and the two discovered a shared passion that has taken a parallel trajectory. Hoggs will begin the MSW at USC in fall 2025, and her mother is completing her MSW back home in Indiana.

For Green, the minor also provided an advantage when it came time to apply to graduate school. 

“Few universities offer a program as immersive and hands-on as this minor,” Green said. “When writing graduate school applications and personal statements, I had so much to draw from, including unique classes, community-based projects, conferences and direct engagement with nonprofits.”

Robert Hernandez is excited to see how the graduating students will incorporate what they have learned in the minor into practice within their various disciplines. 

“The students who enter the minor are highly intelligent, passionate and committed to seeing a better understanding of the population and how to best support youth,” Robert Hernandez said. “I am looking forward to hearing about new and innovative approaches in advocacy to lift up our at-risk and systems-impacted youth in this country.”