Youth Advocacy Graduate Certificate

The Youth Advocacy certificate provides an opportunity for students, professionals and paraprofessionals to gain comprehensive training in addressing critical social issues related to community safety, with a particular emphasis on the well-being of youth throughout their life cycles, including systems-involved youth. The certificate offers a range of courses and educational experiences that foster an interdisciplinary approach to public safety, covering a spectrum of cultural, legal, historical and social aspects. Collaboration among students, professionals, community members, youth and other stakeholders is prioritized, equipping graduates with the values, knowledge, skills, and relationships essential for frontline intervention, advocacy and the advancement of community safety.

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work offers university certificates that provide students advanced practice or research training through a social change and intercultural competence lens that emphasizes community advocacy. Certificates are designed to complement and deepen training provided through our degree programs by focusing on experiential application of concepts in relation to particular client populations, settings, and systems. Each certificate consists of at least 12 units, which may in part be satisfied by courses completed for a degree program. Certificates are also available to graduate students from other disciplines and to employed professionals.