About LACI

What does LACI do?

LACI places teams of USC students into the community to consult and assist local non-profits and small businesses with their challenges. At the start of each semester, LACI pairs teams of 4-6 USC students and a USC Professor Mentor with a local non-profit or small businesse. Over the next 12 weeks, the USC team and organization meet regularly to develop their project and complete a final deliverable that contains well-researched, strategic recommendations that clients can then implement. Past and current projects include marketing plan creation, evaluating operating efficiency, business plan research, feasibility analysis, growth recommendations, and strategic analysis.  In this past Fall 2008 semester, LACI provided valuable strategic consulting to 16 different organizations.

To be a valuable and effective team member, LACI applicants need the following:

• A genuine desire to help the Los Angeles community
• A high level of performance that drives students to always do more than expected
• The ability to work in teams, believing that an effective team is always better than an individual effort
• An aptitude to always find and improve weaknesses in a system
• Leadership and management skills that will add to the team, as well as LACI’s future as a student organization

LACI is the first student organization at USC to focus completely on service-learning. Service-learning is the idea that students can learn real-world, applicable skills while performing a service for the community. Instead of performing purely volunteer work (such as painting a playground or serving food in a soup kitchen), projects will encourage members to use skills that are necessary in the business world. LACI ultimately creates a symbiotic relationship with a community partner: members learn valuable skills from the project while the client and community benefit from the service.