01-17-14 LiFE Sports Initiative Plan FINAL · [5]!! to!university/college!life!and!interestin!highereducation!and!2)!increaseparticipants’perceptionsof! athleticcompetence

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

“Positive Youth Development Through Sport & Recreation”

Initiative Business Plan 2014 -‐ 2019

The following prospectus has been developed to provide an overall framework to guide the continued development of the LiFE Sports Initiative. Please note that this document while developed to guide the continued development will and should change as time moves forward.

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Contents

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2

Context & Need ................................................................................................................................... 2

Initiative Overview ............................................................................................................................... 3

Our History ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Our Mission .............................................................................................................................................. 3

The LiFE Sports Impact ............................................................................................................................. 3

Current Organizational Strategies ............................................................................................................ 4

Service & Outreach .............................................................................................................................. 4

Teaching & Learning ............................................................................................................................ 5

Research .............................................................................................................................................. 5

Building On Our Success: The Next Phase of LiFE Sports ...................................................................... 6

Service & Outreach .................................................................................................................................. 7

Summer Camp & Clinics Enhancements .............................................................................................. 7

Model Licensing & Distribution ............................................................................................................ 7

Teaching & Learning ................................................................................................................................ 8

LiFE Sports Practice & Research Fellows .............................................................................................. 8

Professional Development for Youth Development Agencies and Organizations ............................... 8

Research .................................................................................................................................................. 9

Longitudinal Research .......................................................................................................................... 9

Community-‐Based Research ................................................................................................................ 9

Operations & Governance .................................................................................................................... 9

Financial Projections .......................................................................................................................... 11

Development Plan ............................................................................................................................. 13

Internal Development Strategy ............................................................................................................. 13

External Development Strategy ............................................................................................................. 15

For More Information ........................................................................................................................ 16

References ......................................................................................................................................... 16

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Executive Summary LiFE Sports believes that through sport, recreation and play, at-‐risk youth can be provided with the skills necessary to overcome their life obstacles. Its mission is not only to provide programming to help youth succeed in life but also to prepare tomorrow’s youth workers and support current youth programs to improve their practice through research. LiFE Sports work currently is touching the lives of over 600 youth and 190 students and youth workers each year.

Over the past five years, LiFE Sports has successfully built its university and community presence and is now poised to grow into a national center for youth development through sport. During the next five years, the goal is to take this established Initiative and move it to the forefront of the youth development field. Priorities have been developed both to grow established programs and/or services as well as develop new areas that will enhance the overall impact of LiFE Sports. These priorities will allow LiFE Sports to increase its impact to reach over 3,000 youth annually, 500 students and youth development professionals, and publish at least 5 research articles annually.

To meet these impact goals, LiFE Sports must increase staff and increase current revenue streams both through internal and external revenue streams. The total costs of this increased scale are estimated at $886,143, an increase of current revenue by $434,442 over the next five years.

Context & Need

Many of today’s youth are faced with unmet basic needs, involvement with anti-‐social peers, family conflict and instabilities, as well as a host of emotional, behavioral, and mental health issues and disorders (Doll & Lyon, 1998; Early & Vonk, 2002; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). In fact, approximately 6 to 9 million youth have serious emotional disturbances, constituting over 9% of the entire population of US children (USDHHS; 1999). These trends also are evident in the Columbus community.

With youth spending only about 30 hours a week over 9 months in school, which amounts to only 13% of their time, out-‐of-‐school time youth development programs and organizations have been increasingly identified as important institutions that promote healthy youth development and address risk factors (Anderson-‐Butcher et al., 2006). Approximately 4,000 national youth service organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the YMCA exist today (Dryfoss, 1998), operating over 17,000 youth development programs across the United States (Quinn, 1999; Roth et al., 1998). Additionally, it is estimated that 51 million children and adolescents between the ages of six and seventeen participate in sport each year (American Sports Data, Inc., 2004). Of these youth, 54% report involvement in organized team sports, while the remaining 46% participate in pick-‐up games and other less structured sport activities.

Given these trends in participation, it is critical that organizations, youth workers, coaches, parents, youth, and other leaders are provided with the needed resources and supports to optimize these

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settings. Various studies and reviews have documented the positive impact these programs can have on youth, especially those most at-‐risk. Positive impacts include: enhanced interpersonal skills, self-‐control, self-‐efficacy, commitment to school, and academic achievement; as well as decreased problem behaviors such as substance use, school misbehavior, aggression, truancy, and high-‐risk sexual behavior (Anderson-‐Butcher et al., 2013; Fraser-‐Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2005; Gould & Carson, 2008).

Although research has identified positive outcomes resulting from youth participation, there is still much to learn within the field of youth development. Little is known about what program characteristics specifically create positive outcomes for youth, as well as how youth workers can be better prepared and trained so that their interventions and program designs are more likely to create intended outcomes (Eccles & Gootman, 2002; Lauer et al., 2006). The field of youth development is still underdeveloped; it needs further research, improvements in program design and practice, and compendium workforce preparation enhancements.

The LiFE Sports Initiative is grounded in enhancing scholarship in relation to this important developing field and community need. The following document is intended to outline priorities and strategies to position the LiFE Sports Initiative as a national youth development program model, teaching and professional development institute, and research institution.

Initiative Overview

Our History LiFE Sports is built upon a historical community outreach program operating at OSU for the past 40 years, the National Youth Sport Program (NYSP). Originally developed in 1968, NYSP was designed to provide economically disadvantaged children and adolescents, ages 9-‐17, with sport and education instruction in a safe and nurturing environment during the summer months. OSU was one of the original NYSPs, beginning its initial operation in 1968. In 2006, all funding was cut from the federal budget to support this program. As a result, over the past five years the College of Social Work and the OSU Department of Athletics have partnered to enhance and develop the LiFE Sports Initiative.

Our Mission The Ohio State University (OSU) developed the LiFE Sports Initiative as an innovation approach to achieve the University’s land grant mission. Grounded in enhancing scholarship through research, teaching & learning, and service & outreach, the LiFE Sports Initiative is intended to address and meet the needs of today’s youth and youth-‐serving agencies and organizations. The LiFE Sports mission is to:

“Enhance the quality of youth development, sport, and recreational programs through service and outreach, teaching and learning, and research, thereby increasing positive developmental outcomes for youth.”

The LiFE Sports Impact Through the operation of these strategies, LiFE Sports has begun to have a significant impact on youth, OSU students, the field of youth development, and our community at-‐large. Key metrics for the LiFE

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Sports Initiative include the number of youth served, the number of students and professionals trained and/or impacted, and the number of research dollars generated and primary journal articles published. The following is a brief overview of the LiFE Sports impact in 2013:

! 720 at-‐risk youth from the Columbus community were provided with a four-‐week, free summer camp and six sports clinics. Youth who attended more than 90% of camp have shown gains in social and athletic competence.

! 190 college students (182 from OSU) gained valuable hands-‐on experience in youth development through coursework, internships, field placements, and employment with LiFE Sports. Of these 190 students involved, 28 were also student athletes (23 at OSU and 5 from other Universities).

! Five research articles were published and six presentations at national and state conferences were conducted to continue to spread the best practices of LiFE Sports to other youth serving organizations and programs.

This business plan is intended to provide a framework to guide LiFE Sports growth in critical metrics, as well as to ensure quality across the Initiative is maintained.

Current Organizational Strategies The LiFE Sports Initiative is currently utilizes a number of strategies to support the overall mission. The following section provides an overview of current strategies within the LiFE Sports Initiative. These strategies are organized into three main areas: service & outreach, teaching & learning, and research. Figure 1 provides a graphical depiction of current organizational strategies.

Service & Outreach Through service & outreach, the LiFE Sports Initiative aims to increase the number and quality of sport and recreational programs that are designed to promote positive youth development among at-‐risk youth.

LiFE Sports Summer Camp & Clinics: The LiFE Sports Camp is designed to provide approximately 600 economically disadvantaged youth ages 9-‐15 from the Columbus, Ohio community with the opportunity to participate in a four-‐week summer sports camp and six sport clinics free of charge. The mission of the camp is to foster social competence among youth through their involvement in sport, fitness, and educational activities. In addition to this mission the camp also strives to: 1) increase youth’s exposure

Figure 1. Current Organizational Strategies

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to university/college life and interest in higher education and 2) increase participants’ perceptions of athletic competence. LiFE Sports prioritizes the above objectives by introducing youth participants to a variety of sports including soccer, basketball, football, lacrosse, swimming, softball/baseball, volleyball, and social dance. In addition to being introduced to these sports, youth also participate in a play-‐based social competence curriculum aimed at enhancing key social skills, including Self Control, Effort, Teamwork, and Social Responsibility (S.E.T.S.). This curriculum also is infused in all sport activities. Following the summer camp, follow up clinics are offered to provide opportunities for youth to receive additional reinforcement for the display of S.E.T.S. and master of sport competencies. Finally as a requirement for camp participation, all youth are able to access a free health physical, transportation to and from camp, and daily meals.

LiFE Sports Youth Leadership Academy: The LiFE Sports Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) is dedicated to preparing youth ages 15-‐18 for the workforce and post-‐secondary educational opportunities by building within them a strong foundation of leadership skills. The program seeks to expand on the important values taught at LiFE Sports, S.E.T.S., by giving camp graduates the knowledge of what it takes to be a leader at LiFE Sports and in their community. YLA programming extends over a 12-‐month period and provides additional mentoring and case management.

Teaching & Learning As part of one of the largest universities in the United States, the LiFE Sports Initiative prioritizes teaching and learning strategies as a way to increase the number of highly-‐skilled youth development professionals in the field.

Youth Development Minor & Related Coursework: This interdisciplinary minor is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills related to youth development principles, processes, and practices. The Youth Development Minor represents collective efforts across 4 colleges at OSU and was offered for the first time at OSU in the fall of 2011. The Youth Development Minor helps prepare students for careers in schools and out-‐of-‐school organizations, sport organizations, and t other employers or volunteer agencies such as city governments, faith-‐based organizations, and after-‐school programs. Faculty and staff from the LiFE Sports Initiative are members of the interdisciplinary Advisory Committee overseeing this minor within OSU. In addition to the development and management of this minor, the LiFE Sports Initiative’s faculty and staff also has developed two youth development theory courses that are housed in the College of Social Work.

Youth Development Internships & Field Experience: Youth development agencies and organizations are often under-‐staffed while at the same time students within OSU are often in need of both field placements and internships. As part of the LiFE Sports Initiative’s goals to both support youth organizations and enhance the learning of students, the LiFE Sports Initiative coordinates the placements of interested students in a variety of assistantships, internships, and field placements. Staff at LiFE Sports also provide supervision to social work students in agencies that do not currently have a licensed independent social worker.

Research

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As part of a Tier-‐1 research university, the LiFE Sports Initiative ensures that research is incorporated throughout all program components. Specifically, the LiFE Sports Initiative aims to build knowledge and best practices in the areas of youth development, social work, and physical activity as well as inform youth development policy.

Applied Research Experiences: The LiFE Sports Initiative currently houses a number of faculty members who engage in research related to the field of youth development. These research projects include projects that look at the current design and program components within the LiFE Sports Camp, as well as comparative research with youth organizations and other agencies supporting youth. Research opportunities span a wide variety of types of research include: program evaluation, intervention research, evidence-‐based practice research, and translational research. Additionally, current OSU students have the opportunity to participate in applied research experiences both within the LiFE Sports Summer Camp and with local community organizations.

Youth Development Research Tool Development: Youth development programs often rely on very small and strained operational budgets. Due to this, many programs are unable to afford quality program evaluations that are necessary to show youth outcomes. The LiFE Sports Initiative currently works with faculty to develop program evaluation tools that are free-‐of-‐charge to youth development programs.

Research Dissemination: The LiFE Sports Initiative continually strives to provide avenues to disseminate best practices in the field of youth development. In an effort to disseminate this information to those in the field, the LiFE Sports Initiative staff currently prioritizes the writing of articles for both community and primary literature, as well as presenting at national, state, and local conferences related to the field of youth development or youth services.

Building On Our Success: The Next Phase of LiFE Sports After beginning in 2008 as a fledging summer camp, the LiFE Sports Institute has blossomed during its first five years and as documented previously has had an impact on both the local community and University at large. Over the next five years, the goal is to take this established Initiative and move it to the forefront of the youth development field as well as establish it as a vital piece of the Ohio State University. The following diagram provides an overview of the intended growth and re-‐organization of the LiFE

Sports strategies over the next five years. Figure 2. Future Organizational Strategies (Yellow indicates a new priority, green indicates a current priority to be enhanced, and white indicates an existing priority to be maintained.)

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Within the three main strategies (service and & outreach, teaching & learning, and research), priorities have been developed both to grow established programs and/or services as well as develop new areas that will enhance the overall impact of LiFE Sports. These additions and enhancements to the LiFE Sports Initiative will significantly impact the three key metrics used for measuring growth and impact. The following provides a brief overview of each enhancement and/or addition as well as the anticipated impact on the key metrics during the next five years.

Service & Outreach Summer Camp & Clinics Enhancements To continue to ensure that the LiFE Sports Summer Camp is a premier model of summer programming, two main enhancements are proposed. First, our priorities include the extending the daily time of camp. The annual LiFE Sports Summer Camp currently ends at 2:00 p.m. Extending camp an additional 75 minutes would put youth back in their community at approximately 4:00 p.m. which would allow parents/guardians to pick their child up directly from the recreation/neighborhood center or at least reduce the unsupervised time youth spend at the local recreational centers. This additional hour also would allow for three new sports be added to the LiFE Sports Summer Camp such as golf, tennis, badminton, backyard games, handball, etc. Finally and most importantly, this would also allow for lower staff to camper ratio. Currently the camper to staff ratio is 1:25, this would be reduced to 1:20.

Second, our priorities involve further addressing ongoing health issues of our youth. LiFE Sports realizes the critical role parents play in supporting their child’s development, as they are the most sensitive to the circumstances and priorities of their families and often the strongest advocates for their children (Jurkowski et al., 2012). Improved parent and family outreach will allow LiFE Sports to develop a Parent Team would expand parental involvement beyond the context of the Summer Camp and clinics and empower parents to be champions in their families and community for the LiFE Sports ideals. Additionally, a health program would be developed that would work with families struggling with childhood and family obesity. LiFE Sports will develop and implement curriculum, health, and educational opportunities for parents and families to impact the overall health of our youth.

Model Licensing & Distribution The LiFE Sports Summer Camp has allowed for the development, implementation and testing of the LiFE Sport Curriculum. This curriculum includes 11 different modules to date, including lesson plans for all nine sports, a play-‐based social skills curriculum, and a counselor handbook. Now that this curriculum has been developed, the next step is to begin sharing it with other non-‐profits or youth serving agencies

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Figure 3. Increase in Youth Reached Over 5 Years

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both in Central Ohio and nationally. To do this, LiFE Sports must license and develop a distribution plan for the materials that includes revenue generation.

Through these two strategies, it is estimated that LiFE Sports over the next five years could increase the number of youth reached as well as bring in additional financial resources to support LiFE Sports sustainability. Figure 3 below depicted that anticipated growth over five years.

Teaching & Learning LiFE Sports Practice & Research Fellows Currently LiFE Sports has a number of students engaged from a variety of different disciplines around the University. To formalize this experience for students, two fellowship programs would be developed: Practice fellowships and research fellowships. Practice fellows would complete internships or field placements within LiFE Sports and local youth serving organizations. In some cases, students would be implementing the LiFE Sports model while in others they would be supporting the existing programming of the youth development agency. LiFE Sports would serve as a “hub” for these placement opportunities and provide regular meetings to share experiences across community agencies. The second type of fellowship would

be focused on gaining research opportunities in the field of youth development. Similar to the practice fellowships, LiFE Sports would serve as the “hub” for coordinating research opportunities for students both within LiFE Sports and in local youth -‐serving agencies. Please note that students may also continue to be involved in one-‐time opportunities outside of this fellowship program as those opportunities arise.

Professional Development for Youth Development Agencies and Organizations Given the development of the LiFE Sports Model and accompanying curriculum, multiple youth organizations have begun asking for additional professional development on both the best practices within youth development and the implementation of the LiFE Sports Model. To expand the LiFE Sports impact to additional professionals and agencies, LiFE Sports will develop a series of professional development seminars, including a summer institute that invites interested professionals to OSU to observe LiFE Sports in action. Example seminars could include behavior management strategies, using sport to teach social skills, and fundamentals of youth development and coaching. LiFE Sports over the past five years has given one-‐time trainings to local agencies, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus and Cincy Afterschool.

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Figure 4. Increase in Students & Professionals Reached Over 5 Years

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Through these two strategies, it is estimated that LiFE Sports over the next five years could significantly increase the number of students and professionals reached. Figure 4 depicts the anticipated growth over five years.

Research

Longitudinal Research What makes LiFE Sports stand apart from traditional camps and youth development programs is its specific focus on understanding how and why youth development programs impact youth. Over the past six years, LiFE Sports has engaged in a number of research studies to better understand how the LiFE Sports Camp and Clinics impact both youth and their families. These studies, however, have all focused on the short-‐term impact of LiFE Sports. Throughout the next five years, LiFE Sports aims to establish a longitudinal research study that would allow LiFE Sports to track youth over multiple years, possibly even past their participation in LiFE Sports, to better understand how LiFE Sports is impacting their overall healthy development. Longitudinal research also will allow for the further distillation of key mechanisms that mediate the relationship among participation and outcomes. Understanding mediators and moderator effects through a longitudinal lens is a current gap in the youth development research.

Community-‐Based Research Each year, LiFE Sports is contacted by a number of youth development organizations to help support their annual evaluation efforts. To support these requests, an evaluation arm of LiEF Sports would be developed. The LiFE Sports Research Fellows (as mentioned above) would be assigned to these evaluation projects to facilitate cost effective evaluations for these youth agencies as well as provide additional research experience for OSU graduate students. The goal of each evaluation project would also include a publication in primary research literature. Additional OSU faculty would be invited to support these research projects if these studies align to their current research priorities and interests.

Through these two strategies, it is estimated that LiFE Sports over the next five years will increase the number of research articles published. Figure 5 depicts this anticipated growth over five years.

Operations & Governance Currently the LiFE Sports Initiative is staffed and operated by a team comprised of staff, faculty, and students fro the College of Social Work and Department of Athletics. Current staff includes: a 0.20 FTE Executive Director of Outreach, a 0.20 FTE Executive Director of Teaching and Research, a 0.25 FTE

Figure 5. Increase in Published Research Articles Over 5 Years

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Director of Operations and two 0.50 graduate research assistants. To achieve the strategies suggested throughout this plan, the following staff growth is recommended over the next five years (Table 1). Priorities areas related to staffing include the funding of a full-‐time Director of Operations followed by a full-‐time Service & Outreach Project Coordinator and administrative program assistant. Please note that these increases in staffing are incorporated into the financial projections in the following section.

Table 1. Incremental FTE Required for Growth

Position Current FTE


Executive Director of Outreach 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.35 0.35 0.50 Executive Director of Teaching & Learning 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.35 0.35 0.50 Director of Operations 0.25 .50 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Service & Outreach Project Coordinator 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Teaching & Learning Project Coordinator 0.00 .25 .50 .50 .75 1.00 Research Project Coordinator 0.50 .50 .50 .50 .75 1.00 Administrative Program Assistant 0.33 .33 .33 .50 .50 1.00

The operations of the LiFE Sports Initiative will be managed on a daily basis by two Executive Directors, the Director of Operations and three project coordinators and/or graduate assistants with ongoing guidance and leadership provided by the Sports/Camp Outreach Director from by the Department of Athletics, and the Research & Teaching Director from the College of Social Work. Other OSU faculty, staff, consultants, instructors will assist within individual Initiative strategies. Additionally the Executive Director of Outreach and the Executive Director of Teaching and Research will receive guidance quarterly from an Advisory Council, comprised of leaders from the university and the community. Finally a community council will provide advisement to the service and outreach component to ensure that current programming is in alignment with practice issues and needs emergent in the local and national community. An organizational chart is provided below that overview this reporting structure. Figure 6 provides an organizational chart of these new staffing requirements.

Figure 6. Expanded Organizational Chart

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Financial Projections The current annual revenue of the LiFE Sports Initiative is $451, 701. Table 2 provides a detailed overview of this revenue. Currently, 20.7% of LiFE Sports annual revenue is derived from external sources, while the other 79.3% is provided by University (or internal) sources.

Table 2. Annual LiFE Sports Revenue

REVENUE STREAMS TOTAL Cardinal Health Rx Grant 14,582 United Way of Central Ohio 50,000 Cardinal Health Development Grant 25,000 College of Social Work In-‐Kind 75,119 Department of Athletics In-‐Kind 208,000 Department of Recreational Sports In-‐Kind 40,000 Office of Outreach and Engagement 35,000 Estimated Annual Giving (Individuals) 2,000 Endowment Interest 2,000 Total Revenue $ 451,701

The current operating expenses of the LiFE Sports Initiative are approximately $478,121. Table 3 provides a breakdown of these current expenses by line item, while Table 4 provides this same information by program area. Current costs include shared Initiative expenses related to management and oversight such as personnel, travel, purchased services, and supplies.

Table 3. Operating Expenses of LiFE Sports at Current Scale by Line Item

BY LINE ITEM TOTAL Salaries & Wages 248,269 Fringe Benefits 58,276 Purchased Services 155,118 Materials & Supplies 16,458 Total Cost $ 478,121

Table 4. Operating Expenses of LiFE Sports at Current Scale by Program Area

BY PROGRAM AREAS TOTAL Operations & Administration 89,213 Summer Camp & Clinics 273,843 Leadership Academy 73,027 Camp Extension -‐ Family Health & Wellness -‐ Model Licensing & Distribution 12,169 Teaching & Learning (Fellows, Professional Development & Coursework/Minor) -‐ Research (Community-‐Based Research, Tool Development & Dissemination) 29,869 Longitudinal Research -‐ Total Cost $ 478,121

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Given the proposed enhancements and growth of the LiFE Sports Initiative, it is estimated that the annual operating expenses of the enhanced LiFE Sports Initiative would total $886,143. Table 5 and 6 provide an overview of anticipated costs associated with the increased scale of LiFE Sports. To fund the proposed growth, additional funding must be secured. Most specifically, funding must be secured to support Operations and Administration as these staff costs will allow for the infrastructure to both manage the overall Initiative as well as manage additional profit generation and fundraising efforts. Table 5. Operating Expenses of LiFE Sports at Increased Scale by Line Item

BY LINE ITEM TOTAL Salaries & Wages 496,384 Fringe Benefits 141,319 Purchased Services 218,794 Materials & Supplies 29,646 Total Cost $ 886,143

Table 6. Operating Expenses of LiFE Sports at Increased Scale by Program Area

BY PROGRAM AREAS TOTAL Operations & Administration 262,434 Summer Camp & Clinics 273,843 Leadership Academy 103,557 Camp Extension 51,403 Family Health & Wellness 48,214 Model Licensing & Distribution 22,669 Teaching & Learning (Fellows, Professional Development & Coursework/Minor) 30,208 Research (Community-‐Based Research, Tool Development & Dissemination) 30,208 Longitudinal Research 63,607 Total Cost $ 886,143

Finally, Figure 7 below provides a graphical depiction of current revenue compared to current and future expenses

Figure 7. Expense to Revenue Comparison

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Development Plan As outlined within the previous section, for LiFE Sports to operate at full scale an additional $434,442 of revenue must be raised and/or generated within the next five years. This additional funding would be in addition to the existing $451,701 annual revenue ($358,119 from internal OSU sources and $93,582 from external sources) currently available to LiFE Sports. Table 6 sets annual revenue goals, with incremental increases, to allow for LiFE Sports to reach this goal within the next five years. Revenue goals have been set both for internal and external sources. Please note that the table below refers to additional revenue that must be raised in addition to the current $451,701 external and internal funds received by LiFE Sports.

Table 7. Annual Additional Revenue Goals Over Next Five Years

YEAR INTERNAL FUNDING GOAL (30%)

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TOTAL FUNDING GOAL

1 30,000 70,000 100,000 358,119 93,582 551,701 2 52,500 122,500 175,000 358,119 93,582 626,701 3 75,000 175,000 250,000 358,119 93,582 701,701 4 97,500 227,500 325,000 358,119 93,582 776,701 5 $130,333 $304,109 $434,442 $358,119 $93,582 $886,143

Internal Development Strategy Given the importance of this Initiative and its anticipated impact on OSU students, faculty, and staff, as well as community, the Department of Athletics and the College of Social Work have already begun to make strategic investments in the Initiative-‐at-‐large.

The Department of Athletics commits annually to ongoing camp operation costs, provides proceeds from the OSU Spring Football Game, a suite to host donor prospects during the OSU Spring Football Game, as well in-‐kind staff support for the Initiative including staff from event management, communications and marketing.

In addition, the OSU College of Social Work has prioritized the Initiative within its strategic plan and as one of its development campaigns. Specifically, the College of Social Work has worked with University Development to identify potential donors and annually supports a 0.25 FTE for the Director of Operations and redeploys a faculty member to serve as the Director of Research and Teaching (0.20 FTE).

Together Athletics and Social Work fund a LiFE Sports graduate research assistant, as well as provide varying levels of in-‐kind fiscal, technology, development, and marketing supports. Other units on campus currently offer programming activities that assist with the design and implementation of LiFE Sports. To name a few: The Department of Recreational Sports provides facilities and supports to operate the summer camp and clinics. Faculty, staff, and students from the College of Nursing

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implement components of the summer camp, including the health/fitness curriculum and the YLA. The Office of Outreach & Engagement is beginning its involvement related to the YLA, providing further leadership and support related to the linkage of the program to postsecondary and job/internship opportunities. Faculty and staff from units across campus (such as the Education/Human Ecology, Public Health, and Student Affairs) recruit and refer students for various learning experiences within LiFE Sports. Physicians and athletic trainers from Sports Medicine provide health physicals and daily athletic training services during the summer camp. And faculty from Education and Human Ecology; Psychology; Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science; and Social Work provide leadership to the interdisciplinary youth development minor.

One important development priority involves maintaining and strengthening the programmatic involvement of these and other units within the university, as well as engaging these university partners more fully from a financial and leadership perspective. As such, LiFE Sports will outreach to Deans and Vice Presidents across OSU departments and units to raise awareness of LiFE Sports, as well as explore ways in which they may be involved programmatically within the Initiative (and bring in-‐kind and/or financial supports). LiFE Sports also will further cultivate their commitment to LiFE Sports overall, especially in relation to their financial support of LiFE Sports. One way might involve units providing course buy-‐outs, small internal grants, or other incentives for faculty/staff involvement in LiFE Sports. Other strategies would involve further supporting student involvement in the teaching and learning component of LiFE Sports. For instance, another strategy might involve generating support through leveraging tuition dollars for students who are involved in LiFE Sports internships. Currently students pay tuition per credit hour of their internship or practicum experiences. These dollars flow currently to the unit which requires the internship and units use these dollars to oversee/supervise the experience. Given LiFE Sports is providing most of the oversight, it may be possible for units to redeploy given the responsibilities for supervision, monitoring, and providing the experience lies with LiFE Sports. Similarly, sometimes local organizations that house students for field placements receive tuition waivers as incentives for their role. Again, LiFE Sports is presenting the “organization” housing students for field placements. Perhaps dollars might be allocated to further support this student supervision role. Last, units might have interest in supporting the development of the LiFE Sports Practice and Research Fellows priority, thus providing financial supports so that their students might benefit from this additional learning and leadership experiences.

Another important strategy involves the strategic engagement of OSU’s Office of Development in LiFE Sports. Development has staff deployed into different units across campus. As such, there are Development Officers in each unit (such as Social Work, Athletics, etc), as well as other Officers who work on university-‐wide development efforts (such as Affinity Contracts, Corporation Investments, Communications, etc). Currently several Development Officers are engaged individually in support of LiFE Sports fundraising efforts, but there is no systematic approach to create synergy across the various units for the interdisciplinary LiFE Sports agenda. As such, we will meet with different individuals across Development in varying units across campus to raise their awareness of LiFE Sports, create marketing additional materials needed to cultivate donors, and further engage Development (in units and university-‐wide) in exploring opportunities for LiFE Sports investments.

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External Development Strategy In addition to maintaining and securing internal OSU commitments, the generation of additional financial resources also is critical to support the Initiative’s overall 5 year growth plan. The first priority in the external development strategy involves the maintenance of current external funding that supports LiFE Sports. Human as well as fiscal resources provided by entities such as United Way of Central Ohio and Cardinal Health are critical to our current success. Strategies for continuing and strengthening these relationships are important.

In addition to maintaining current external supports, a total of $434,442 (of which $304,109 is via external development strategies; in additional revenue is needed over 5 years to support the full implementation of long-‐term LiFE Sports

priorities. Of this, it is estimated that an additional $70,000 is needed to be generated in Year One; an additional $122,500 in Year Two; $175,000 in Year Three; $227,500 in Year Four; and in $304,109 Year Five (See Table 7). Please note these targets are cumulative, meaning that $70,000 is needed the first year; then the $70,000 dollars plus an additional $52,500 is needed for Year 2, etc). In addition, the targets also are fluid but provide a framework that outlines development goals across the 5 year plan, and may not include unforeseeable costs that may arise in the future. The LiFE Sports Pyramid of Giving, as presented in Figure 8, provides a comprehensive view of the number and amount of gifts needed to actualize the goals and priorities outlined in this 5 year business plan. It presents a pictorial representation of the targets needed to generate the final $434,442.

To guide the development strategy, it will be important to cultivate relationships and secure resources through multiple strategies. The first avenue for securing additional resources involves securing individual gifts. This strategy is the most fruitful based on past research on fundraising and development. The second avenue will involve securing corporate gifts. This involves cultivating relationships with foundations, exploring funding opportunities based on foundation priorities, and working with individuals who are employed in these corporations to leverage connections and encourage their volunteerism and involvement. Last, grant writing for program implementation from grant-‐making institutions, local and state governments, and other funders of programs

Two important structures within the LiFE Sports Organizational Structure are key to a successful external development strategy. The LiFE Sports Advisory Council is charged with providing guidance related to policy and programming, developing and engaging in fundraising and campaign activities, and promoting

Figure 8. LiFE Sports Pyramid of Giving: External Sources

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LiFE Sports at OSU and in the community. The specific steps in actualizing the Pyramid of Giving will be created and owned by this group. Additionally, the evolution of the Marketing and Development Team (comprised of both internal OSU and external leaders) will create an infrastructure within LiFE Sports that will be charged with the deployment of specific steps that help LiFE Sports reach its 5 years goals.

Last, both the internal and external development strategies require the investment of key LiFE Sports staff, as well as the investment of additional resources to support fundraising efforts (such as hosting events and meetings with prospective donors). The maintenance and nurturing of current and future funding streams, and the strengthening of the relationships with the leaders who make decisions about these resource allocations, takes time, energy, and dedication. The further commitment of LiFE Sports and OSU faculty/staff time, as well as the creation of resources to support development efforts, will be a necessary step.

For More Information In the end, this is an ambitious plan. To actualize, it will take commitment from key leaders as well as infrastructure support and leadership from the Advisory Council, the University at-‐large, and the community. Clearly the plan will evolve and grow as the LiFE Sports Initiative takes shape and develops. Please contact us for more information about LiFE Sports or to support future directions related to this important Initiative:

Dawn Anderson-‐Butcher Executive Director of Teaching & Research

(614) 292-‐8596 anderson-‐[email protected]

References American Sports Data, Inc., (2004, January). A study of organized youth team sport participation

in the U.S. Hartsdale, NY. Anderson-‐Butcher, D., Riley, A., Iachini, A., Wade-‐Mdivanian, R., & Davis, J. (2011). Sports

and youth development. In R.J.R. Levesque (Ed), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 2846-‐2859). New York: Springer

Fraser-‐Thomas, J., Cote, J., & Deakin, J. (2005). Youth sport programs: An avenue to foster

positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 10(1), 19-‐40. Gould, D., & Carson, S. (2008). Life skills development through sport: Current status and future

directions. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1(1), 58-‐78.

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01-17-14 LiFE Sports Initiative Plan FINAL · [5]!! to!university/college!life!and!interestin!highereducation!and!2)!increaseparticipants’perceptionsof! athleticcompetence