Throughout 2024–2025, our Center continued to support efforts to advance the well-being of children, youth, and families through research-informed policy work and collaborative partnerships. Key contributions include:
Youth Justice, Police-Youth Interactions & Youth Crisis Response
Governor DeWine's Juvenile Justice Working Group Final Report & Recommendations
Policy Director Gabriella Celeste continued to serve as an appointed member of the Ohio Juvenile Justice Working Group, which concluded its work with a comprehensive set of final recommendations released alongside Governor DeWine in September 2024. Building on its interim proposals, the Working Group called for the replacement of large youth correctional facilities with smaller, regionally based centers, emphasizing the need for trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate care, community-based alternatives, and meaningful partnerships with local child behavioral health providers, youth, and their families. Celeste contributed to shaping the report’s focus on credible data, an understanding of adolescent development, restorative approaches, and the importance of lived experience in guiding system transformation.
For more details on the complete set of recommendations, visit governor.ohio.gov. r
Our Center partners with the Ohioans for Youth Justice as part of state-level efforts to improve interventions and funding for programs supporting youth in or at risk of entering the Ohio Department of Youth Services (ODYS). This policy work extended into 2025 with the submission of Interested Party testimony on House Bill 96 before the Ohio House Public Safety Committee. In her remarks, Celeste emphasized the importance of developmentally appropriate justice policies, noting that while adults commit 90% of crimes, children are more commonly the victims of violence, especially of gun violence, which is now the leading cause of death for youth. She highlighted the success of community-based alternatives, such as ODYS’s Targeted RECLAIM and the Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice initiative, which improve outcomes while significantly reducing recidivism and saving public funds. Celeste also reinforced the Working Group’s recommendation to replace large youth prisons with smaller, regional facilities that prioritize safety, family proximity, community-based supports, and local engagement.
Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective
As part of the Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective—a partnership between the Schubert Center for Child Studies, the Children’s Law Center, and the ACLU of Ohio — we helped coordinate a series of focus groups with Cleveland youth to identify and elevate their perspectives on safety, healing, and justice. This information was shared with the Mayor, County Council, and the Juvenile Court as part of ongoing advocacy to improve local youth diversion and detention. The Collective’s final webinar event, in collaboration with B4U Services, shared powerful insights from system-impacted youth and families, challenged harmful media narratives, and promoted a more restorative, community-driven vision for safety and healing.
Read the Summary of Youth Focus Group Themes
Child Wellness
Child Lead Poisoning Prevention
As co-founder of the Ohio Lead-Free Kids Coalition, Policy Director Gabriella Celeste testified before the Ohio General Assembly as an Interested Party on Substitute HB 96, urging lawmakers to invest in child lead poisoning prevention efforts. She raised concerns about proposed cuts that would reduce funding from over $8 million to just $250,000 annually, highlighting the continued risk of irreversible harm to children, particularly those living in aging housing. Emphasizing the importance of primary prevention, the testimony spoke to the value of renewed investment in lead abatement programs and the Lead Safe Home Fund, noting that more than 200 families remain on waitlists for hazardous control services.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Gabriella Celeste was awarded the Ohio Healthy Homes Network Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding leadership, longevity, and service to the community, specifically in her efforts to create and build a statewide coalition dedicated to preventing child lead poisoning. We thank her for a lifetime of serving children and families! We are so grateful to Gabriella for her passion and dedication to our work.
This year, we expanded the Schubert Center team to include Anuoluwapo (Anu) Ajibade, a third-year PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, as a Policy Research Associate. Anu’s academic work focuses on the intersection of structural factors influencing health-seeking behaviors. Under the supervision of our Policy Director, Anu’s primary efforts involve conducting an in-depth local and statewide media scan to identify and analyze public narratives surrounding justice-involved youth, which will help inform the Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective’s activities and the Center’s policy work. Additionally, Anu is analyzing data from juvenile detention centers to identify systemic trends and highlight areas for further research.
Current Policy Engagement and Advisory Groups
- Attorney General Mental Health Task Force, Juvenile Justice Sub-Committee
- Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services Advisory Board, County Executive, and Council Appointee
- Governor DeWine's Juvenile Justice Working Group, Governor Appointee
- Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective
- Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiatives, Steering Committee, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court
- Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, Steering Committee
- Ohio Lead-Free Kids Coalition, Co-Founder & Leadership Team
- Ohio Youth Justice Network
- Restorative CLE
- Youth Mental Health Workforce Development Sprint Task Force