Mission & Vision

CAYCI Leadership

Director, Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher, has published over 70 journal articles and 23 book chapters and was recently recognized as a Fellow in the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW). She is the first in the OSU CSW to receive this honor.

Peer-reviewed Research

Foremost, CAYCI prioritizes the generation of new knowledge. As such, 41 peer-reviewed articles have been published in journals such as Child & Adolescent Social Work, Journal of Education for Students Placed At Risk, Journal of Sport Management, Research on Social Work Practice, Children and Youth Social Services Review, Children & Schools, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, School Mental Health, and the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.

Editorials and Book Chapters

9 editor or editorial board reviewed articles have been published in journals such as Child & Adolescent Social Work, The Prevention Researcher, The Community Psychologist, and Children & Schools. Additionally, 15 chapters have been written in books such as School Social Work: Practice, Policy, and Research (9th edition), The Art of Becoming Indispensable: What School Social Workers Need to Know in their First Three Years of Practice, Handbook of School Mental Health, The School Services Sourcebook: A Guide for School-Based Professionals, and the Encyclopedia of Adolescence.

Conferences and Workshops

Dissemination of research and evidence-based practices at conferences, as well as in workshops for professionals working in the field, is an ongoing priority for CAYCI. A total of 164 presentations have been done at international:

Teaching & Learning (internships, theses, dissertations, evaluation projects)

Building the capacity of students is a priority at CAYCI. Each year we engage over 260 OSU students across 14 different units in teaching/learning, research, and outreach activities in the OSU LiFEsports Initiative and through our school, afterschool, and community partners. In the past 16 years:

Development of Faculty & Instructors

Eight past students who worked in CAYCI hold university faculty positions, mostly at Research 1 Institutions such as The Ohio State University, The University of South Carolina, Auburn University, State University of New York-Buffalo, and the University of Kansas. Several other students now serve as lecturers in the College of Social Work at OSU.

Leaders of Social Work Practice

We also have many graduates who are employed in youth service settings, such as with KIPP Schools (Oxford and Columbus), Franklinton High School, Girls On The Run, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Schools Bishop Watterson, Dublin City Schools, Columbus City Schools), Private practice, Community-based agencies (Choices), Regional Educational Service Centers, and in local non-profits (After-School All-Stars, Directions for Youth and Families, etc).

Team-based Learning and Interprofessional Collaboration

Collaboration is central to the work of CAYCI, as is student development and elevating the youth voice. Authorship on peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, presentations, and various reports is one way to examine the depth of engagement of others in CAYCI work. In the last 16 years:

Grants and Project Management

In the past 16 years, CAYCI has secured over 7 million in external funding from 21 different entities to support research, program design and implementation, evaluation, and capacity-building efforts. Please note other dollars have been generated internal to the university but are not included here (for instance, in-kind supports from Athletics, CSW, Recreational Sports, and Outreach & Engagement to support OSU LiFEsports).

Community Outreach & Engagement

CAYCI has published multiple products that synthesize evaluation findings and/or provide guidance for others related to implementation processes. Between 2015-2021, 16 technical assistance guides and monographs have been written, all to support the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices in the field. Further, 33 evaluations reports were produced that document barriers, facilitators, innovations, and outcomes resulting from various projects focused on positive youth development, school improvement, school-family-community partnerships, afterschool programming, and youth sport.