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Downtown Women’s Center

About the organization

The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) envisions a Los Angeles with every woman housed and on a path to personal stability. Its mission is to end homelessness for women in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment, and advocacy. DWC is built on a friendship that grew between an outreach worker named Jill Halverson and Rosa, a woman experiencing homelessness at the time. This friendship inspired Jill to open DWC and establish a community through which the lives of women like Rosa could be restored. Today, DWC manages over 100 units of permanent housing across greater los Angeles and serves more than 5400 women annually, providing a wide array of resources to decrease barriers and end homelessness.

DWC’s Housing First and trauma-informed service model includes:

• Access to basic needs and resources through the Day Center
• On-site housing and supportive services
• Health and wellness services
• Job readiness and employment training
• Advocacy training
• Public education and volunteering
• Research and evaluation

About the residency

As an occupational therapy doctoral resident, you will partner with other members of the DWC Housing team to help residents sustain their tenancy and integrate into the community.

Occupational therapy services at DWC focus on assessing and intervening around functional limitations (physical and cognitive) impacting the resident’s successful tenancy, limited occupational engagement that risks health/mental status and supporting residents’ successful self-care management associated with chronic medical conditions. Services may be delivered either as consultations to case managers and residents or directly to residents where risk level is high and a complex intervention is needed.

Priority will go to students who have completed an adult rehabilitation Level II fieldwork in hospital based acute or rehabilitation setting and/or nursing home, and are available to complete their final Level II fieldwork with DWC. Interviews will be with the DWC OTD Residency Faculty Mentor and Dr. Richard McHam, OTD, DWC Occupational Therapist.

Financial support

The opportunity offers a Chan Division financial award of 24 units tuition support plus the possibility of an DWC stipend if budget allows. Information regarding the availability of stipend must be confirmed by DWC.

Contact information

Interested students should contact Dr. Deborah Pitts at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
1540 Alcazar Street, CHP 133, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9003

ACOTE accreditation | NBCOT certification

The USC entry-level master’s degree program (cost of attendance) is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education® (ACOTE). The USC entry-level OTD degree program (cost of attendance) has been granted Candidacy Status by ACOTE. View our program’s ACOTE standards public data. ACOTE c/o Accreditation Department, American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.®, 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929, (301) 652-6611 x2914, acoteonline.org

Professional program graduates are eligible to apply for certification by National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.® (NBCOT), nbcot.org. Program results from the NBCOT can be found online at www.nbcot.org/Educators-Folder/SchoolPerformance.