Center for Religion and Civic Culture

The University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture "was founded in 1996 with a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. Initially, we focused almost exclusively on documenting the civic role of religion in Los Angeles. As the fires cooled from the civil unrest in 1992, a number of coalitions, partnerships, and organizing efforts developed to assist the process of reweaving the moral fabric of a deeply divided Los Angeles. CRCC was on the street observing this civic activity, especially where congregations took a leading role. As relationships developed, we also started to make creative connections between people and among various groups. We hosted conference, wrote reports, and developed a website was developed to mirror to the city the "soul" of LA.

"The university was engaging the community by doing something other than making it an object of study. In fact, the Center played a catalytic role in helping to found organizations such as Churches United for Economic Development. We also began to understand the important role of community organizing as practiced by the IAF and groups such as Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches, a network of African American congregations who were tackling the issue of literacy among incarcerated men and women. With some pride we practiced "action research," a mode of scholarly investigation that seeks to make a difference in the lives of those who are studied...

"In 2002, CRCC received a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and was named one of its "Centers of Excellence," joining nine other centers at major research institutions."


 * Current Projects

Staff
Accessed January 2009:


 * Donald E. Miller - Executive Director
 * Jon Miller - Director of Research
 * Brie Loskota - Managing Director
 * Sumaya Abubaker - Project Manager
 * Hebah Farrag - Associate Director, Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement
 * Richard Flory - Research Associate
 * Napah Phyakul Quach - Director of Finance
 * Norella Putney - Project Director, Transmission of Religion Across Generations
 * Timothy Sato - Communications Director
 * Mark Whitlock - Co-Director, Passing the Mantle
 * Eugene Williams - Co-Director, Passing the Mantle