CRCC Murray Center

The Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement draws on the social, spiritual, and leadership capital of churches and the broader faith community to promote economic development and civic engagement in low-income neighborhoods. Specifically, the Center honors Rev. Cecil L “Chip” Murray’s three-decade-long legacy of working for the betterment of Los Angeles by addressing the following areas:

• Job training and economic development for low-income and minority populations in California, with a focus on Los Angeles, including communities adjacent to the USC campus.
• Leadership development, capacity building, civic engagement, financial literacy, and entrepreneurial training, mentoring, and incubation of individuals, businesses and non-profit agencies, especially those located in low-income and minority neighborhoods.
• Maintaining a regularly updated database of best practice models and profiles of small business and non-profit agencies that are successfully confronting the challenges faced by residents in low-income and minority communities.
• Establishing a forum where ideas can be discussed and debated regarding the programs and policies that are fundamental to creating healthy communities, especially related to their social, economic and cultural strengths. The Murray Center will operate in these four areas and will serve as a bridge between the academy and the broader community. The Murray Center functions under the organizational umbrella of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0520
213-743-2141

Chairman: Cecil Murray
Executive Director: Mark Whitlock
Program Manager: Damali Najuma Smith, damalism@usc.edu