Tonny sits down for an expansive conversation with Dr. Eric Rice, a leading researcher in youth homelessness and social networks, Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Director, USC Center for AI in Society USC. Social work expert, focusing on community outreach, network science, and the use of social networking technology by high-risk youth.
-Eric Rice, on centering belonging in homelessness solutions
Eric traces his journey from being a DJ and record collector to social-work scholar, sharing how music, belonging, and compassion shaped his career. The conversation unpacks how youth experiencing homelessness build resilience, navigate relationships, and find community, even in the most unstable conditions.
Tonny also opens up about his own story about stigma, and self-compassion. The two also reflect on the ways belonging can literally change a life. The episode moves from vinyl records to HIV prevention, from MySpace to AI, and always circles back to the human need to connect.
It’s an hour that feels like both a case study and a heart to heart rooted in sound, story, and solidarity.
- Eric, on why belonging must be central to addressing homelessness
Diving deeper into this week’s episode
- A Peer-Led, Artificial Intelligence–Augmented Social Network Intervention to Prevent HIV Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness
- Social network correlates of education and employment service use among youth experiencing homelessness: A longitudinal study
- Who Is Couch-Surfing and Who Is on the Streets? Disparities Among Racial and Sexual Minority Youth in Experiences of Homelessness
- Linking Homelessness Vulnerability Assessments to Housing Placements and Outcomes for Youth
- USC Center for Artificial Intelligence and Social Work
From the Los Angeles Coalition to End Youth Homelessness Town Hall on March 12th, 2021, Dr. Eric Rice from the University of Southern California presents about the science behind peer influence and how that relates to the unhoused community vaccine uptake and dissemination.
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