On September 11th, HPRI hosted The Flourishing & Empowerment Summit at USC Caruso Center. The summit brought together nearly 100 attendees, including researchers, public sector leaders, service providers, property managers, clinicians, funders, and people with lived experience of homelessness.
The summit explored how housing, health, employment, and purpose intersect to shape stability and wellbeing. Panel discussions and interactive sessions offered particiipants innovative tools and strategies to apply flourishing principles in practice. The day was marked by meaningful conversations, valuable insights, and rich cross-sector collaboration.
Resources
Recordings:
- Welcome and What Is Flourishing?
Full | Highlights - Keynote: The Big Why with Celina Alvarez
Full | Highlights - Panel Discussion I — Perspectives on Flourishing
Full | Highlights - HPRI Highlights with Ben Henwood
Full | Highlights - Panel Discussion II — Perspectives on Flourishing
Full | Highlights
Slide Decks:
Speakers
Benjamin Henwood, PhD, LCSW (He/Him) is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. He is a globally recognized expert in health and housing services research, with specific expertise in permanent supportive housing and on improving care for adults experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness, as well as in the integration of primary and behavioral health care. Dr. Henwood is the faculty director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute and the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research (H3E), both housed at USC. He is a co-author of Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing, and has served as the methodological lead for the Greater LA Homeless Count since 2017, which is the largest unsheltered count in the U.S.
Seth Pickens, EdD (He/Him) is the Managing Director of the USC Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI). His research centers on human empowerment in the social and public service sectors. An ordained minister, he also serves as the Spiritual Director and Senior Minister of Guidance Church, a nondenominational congregation in South Los Angeles. A former elementary school teacher and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Dr. Pickens holds a BA in Psychology from Morehouse College, an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary (NYC), and an EdD from USC. In his research, writing, and speaking, Seth seeks to facilitate applied innovations rooted in healing, inspiration, and joy.
Celina Alvarez (She/Hers) has been part of Housing Works since 2008, now Executive Director, starting her career as a frontline worker and eventually mentored by Mollie Lowery, the pioneer of permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles County, to become her successor. Housing Works is recognized as one of Los Angeles’ most innovative and effective homeless services providers. Well known as an activist, innovator, and thought leader, Celina has served as an expert content advisor on a local and national level and continues to push numerous systems to improve the multi-sector response to the homelessness crisis grounded in the lived experience of those living on the streets and the development and care of the frontline workforce.
Saba Mwine-Chang (She/Hers) is the inaugural Deputy Chief Community Opportunity Officer at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). In this role, she leads strategic initiatives and fosters collaboration across LAHSA, the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, and City and County partners to advance culturally informed approaches to homelessness. Her work focuses on healing-centered service models, data-driven implementation, and community support. Previously, Saba was the first Managing Director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute, where she helped transform it from a start-up into a nationally recognized research collaborative. At HPRI, she supported cross-sector partnerships, research, and community learning focused on homelessness solutions.
Jessica Monge Coria, MPP (She/Hers) is senior outreach manager for Southern California in Community Engagement and Analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In this role, she is responsible for engaging communities and connecting with a broad range of community development stakeholders to understand the economic experiences of lower-income households and communities. She works to elevate emerging issues and innovative approaches that promote economic opportunity through shared learning, community conversations, and cross-sector partnerships.
Sam Tsemberis, Ph.D (He/Him) is a clinical–community psychologist, is Founder and CEO of the Pathways Housing First Institute, and Executive Director for the Greater Los Angeles UCLA-VA Center of Excellence for Training and Research on Veterans Homelessness and Recovery. Dr. Tsemberis developed the Housing First program, which offers housing as a basic human right and effectively supports recovery for individuals, families, and youth experiencing homelessness. Dr. Tsemberis has helped to implement the Housing First program across the globe. He is the author of The Pathways Model to End Homelessness and co-author of Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing Lives. Dr. Tsemberis earned his PhD at New York University and is on the faculty at UCLA.
Graeme Rosenberg, MD (He/Him) is a board-certified Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery at Keck Medicine of USC. He also is the current Director of Performance & Wellness of the Department of Surgery at Keck Medicine of USC. His clinical practice focuses primarily on cancers of the chest, esophageal disorders, and lung transplantation. In his academic endeavors, Dr. Rosenberg developed the PEAK Collaborative, a multidisciplinary program focusing on technical, cognitive, and psychological performance inherent to comprehensive and sustainable performance. The work also incorporates the development of high performance teams and institutional culture that promote professional fulfillment.
Zach Steel, (He/Him) has been teaching at The USC School of Dramatic Arts since 2014 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre Practice and Director of Comedy. He serves as the Director of USC Comic+Care, a program that utilizes the practice of various comedy disciplines, including improv and medical clowning, to strengthen community and support the healing process. USC Comic+Care has partnered with Los Angeles General Medical Center, Norris Cancer Center, The Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program @ Norris Cancer Center, The Children’s Bureau, and most recently facilitating improv workshops for Community Health Workers at CHLA to improve collaboration and communication.
Gitanjli (Tanya) Arora, MD (She/Hers) is a physician at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) whose practice has included pediatric palliative care, hospitalbased care of children with medical complexity, clinical bioethics, global health, and health equity. In Tanya’s work as an educator, she has used medical improv, narrative medicine, cultural humility, and community engagement to strengthen communication skills and cultivate compassion and wellbeing among health care professionals.
Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C (He/Him) is the Director and co-founder of USC Street Medicine and is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine. Mr. Feldman is the Vice Chair of the International Street Medicine Institute and has practiced street medicine since 2007. He began his street medicine journey at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania, pioneering the “Homeless Centered Medical Home,” model. In Mr. Feldman’s role with USC and the Street Medicine Institute, he participated in the establishment or expansion of over 200 street medicine programs internationally. He has led advocacy efforts to integrate street medicine into mainstream healthcare, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Place of Service Code 27, allowing street medicine to reimbursed nationwide, while keeping its values and philosophy intact.
Ryan J. Smith, EdD (He/Him) is the President and CEO of St. Joseph Center in Los Angeles. Before joining St. Joseph Center Dr. Smith held leadership at Community Coalition, where he led the Make LA Whole anti-poverty campaign securing more than $200M in city funding. He held senior roles at The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools and The Education Trust, where he expanded student services and advanced community-based advocacy. He also served as Vice President of the Affordable Housing Commission for the City of Los Angeles. Dr. Smith sits on the boards of Covenant House California, which supports youth experiencing homelessness statewide, and Abode Communities, a leading nonprofit developer of affordable housing.
Swabha Swayamdipta, Ph.D (She/Her) is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and a co-Associate Director of the Center for AI and Society at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the fundamentals of language models, such as understanding and evaluating their behavior, and in designing human-centered language technologies for societal good. She leads the Data, Interpretability, Language and Learning (DILL) Lab. She received her PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a postdoc at the Allen Institute for AI and University of Washington. Her work has received outstanding paper awards at EMNLP 2024, ICML 2022, NeurIPS 2021 and an honorable mention for the best paper at ACL 2020. Her research is supported by awards from NSF, Apple, Allen Institute for AI, Intel Labs, Zumberge Foundation, and a WiSE Gabilan Fellowship.
Heidi Behforouz, MD is a physician leader, consultant, and clinician, has focused her career on the health issues of vulnerable populations. She is currently Medical Director of Housing for Health (HFH) at Los Angeles County Department of Health Services—the second largest safety net provider in the United States. Here, she oversees the county’s clinical initiatives to improve the health and wellness of the largest homeless population in the country. Some HFH initiatives include 1) the development and testing of a clinical assessment tool, “5×5”, to complement the VISPDAT in prioritizing homeless individuals for housing and tailoring case management services; 2) training of intensive case managers in health promotion and harm reduction so that they can better accompany their clients as they navigate the health care system and enact health treatment recommendations.
Tiffany Duvernay-Smith is a revolutionary, trailblazing Systems Reform Champion focused on elevating People with Lived Experience to Leadership, Domestic Violence Survivorship, Oversight and Accountability of the Homelessness Response System, Mental Health Stigma Reduction, Alternatives to Incarceration, and Equity. Her current focus is advocating for awareness of the difference between the Housing First Approach and the evidence-based Housing First Model. In addition to her advocacy, consulting, gospel rap finesse, and working as the Coordinator for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Lived Experience Advisory Board, Tiffany is a published journalist and powerful force in the community kindling change in hearts, minds, and policies.
Melissa “Mel” Kline Lee, DSW, MSW (She/Hers) is a nationally recognized design strategy executive, systems change leader, and social innovation scholar with over two decades of public service spanning the White House, federal agencies, nonprofit innovation hubs, and academic institutions. She currently serves as the inaugural Director of Design Strategy and Research at The Salvation Army’s Center for Applied Research and Innovation. Dr. Lee has shaped national policy as a Senior Program Examiner at the White House Office of Management and Budget, advanced human-centered practices as Deputy Director for Customer Experience at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and taught design leadership as a fellow and lecturer at Stanford’s d.school. She is a 2025 Service to the Citizen Award recipient and Champions of Change honoree for excellence in digital service delivery. Her work bridges human-centered design, community research, and lived expertise to reimagine public systems with dignity and impact.
Special thanks to St. Joseph Center for meal catering as well as local organizations Casters Coffee, MADE by Downtown Women’s Center, Piece by Piece, Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles LGBT Center Liberation Coffee, Rosebud Coffee, and Would Works for vending their products at our event!