This year marked a period of meaningful change and continued progress for the Schubert Center for Child Studies under the leadership of Anastasia Dimitropoulos. We successfully relocated to our new suite on the first floor of the former Cleveland Hearing and Speech Building (now referred to as 11635 Euclid), enhancing visibility and accessibility. Despite broader political uncertainty and rapidly shifting events across the university landscape, the center remained active in hosting critical dialogues, supporting student education, and advancing child- and youth-centered research and policy. Our Research Director, Sonia Minnes, was on sabbatical during the fall semester but continued to be a guiding force in the growth of the Schubert Research Fellows program, supported by the Expanding Horizons Initiative (EHI) from the College of Arts and Sciences. She also oversaw our ongoing research collaboration with , further strengthening our commitment to community-engaged work that promotes the well-being of children and adolescents.
In 2024–2025, Policy Director Gabriella Celeste led research-informed efforts to advance justice and well-being for Ohio’s children and youth. As a member of the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Working Group, she played a key role in shaping reform recommendations unveiled alongside Governor DeWine in September 2024. She also submitted testimony on House Bill 96 to the Ohio House, advocating for developmentally appropriate justice policies and expanded use of community-based alternatives to incarceration. In a separate testimony before the Ohio Senate Health Committee, she urged the restoration of funding for lead poisoning prevention programs, highlighting the risks facing children in aging housing. Through the Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective, Gabriella helped center youth voices in conversations about safety and reform, culminating in the event, Amplifying Youth Voice, which challenged harmful narratives and promoted a restorative vision for justice. In recognition of her decades of advocacy, she received the Ohio Healthy Homes Network Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, she also welcomed PhD student Anu Ajibade to her policy team to support youth justice initiatives.
Last spring, our seventh annual Kessler-Freedheim Lecture featured Dr. Megan Moreno, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Youth Co-Medical Director at the American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. Dr. Moreno’s talk, “Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health: Helping Our Kids Thrive in a Digital Age,” addressed the growing concerns surrounding teen technology use and its impact on mental health. Drawing on her research as Principal Investigator of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT), she introduced the 5Cs framework, developed to help families, educators, and clinicians navigate the digital landscape with youth in mind. Dr. Moreno’s lecture was followed by a panel discussion featuring local leaders Tiffany Banks (OhioGuidestone) and Liz Kirby (Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools). This event exemplified our commitment to highlighting timely, research-informed approaches to improving child and adolescent well-being.
Students at ϳԹ continue to grow as leaders in the fields of child research and policy. This year, our Mann Child Policy Extern, Hannah Zacharia, completed her placement at , gaining hands-on experience in child health-focused advocacy and systems-level work. We also expanded the Schubert Research Fellows program, thanks to support from the Expanding Horizons Initiative (EHI) through the College of Arts and Sciences. Now in its fifth year, the Fellows program offers undergraduate students meaningful, paid research experiences alongside faculty and associates from the Schubert Center. The program is designed to strengthen students’ research skills, deepen their engagement with academic scholarship, and expand their networks, helping to prepare them for graduate school and future careers. By underwriting the cost of student research assistantships, the program also supports faculty research and serves as a model for creating research-rich “laboratory” experiences for undergraduates across campus.