UAB’s Child Development Center, operated by the university to offer employees quality and affordable on-campus childcare, will expand its offerings through a new management agreement with KinderCare, a national leader in childcare and early childhood education.
In addition to continued dedication to education and safety protocols, the KinderCare partnership will allow the Child Development Center to move into a larger, state-of-the-art facility to serve more UAB families and create jobs in the community.
“As our workforce has grown, demand for the Child Development Center has exceeded capacity,” said UAB Chief Human Resource Officer Alesia Jones. “We anticipate that — with this management agreement and a new facility — we will be able to more than double the number of children the center serves, to 200 from 90.”
UAB will continue to subsidize the Child Development Center to maintain the benefit at below market rates for families who use the Center, while maintaining its high accreditation standards; the facility ranks among the 5% of childcare centers to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, considered the gold standard in early childhood education.
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“This new partnership between UAB and KinderCare is going to take our already exceptional Child Development Center to an even higher level.” |
According to two national assessments, children who start KinderCare programs as infants are six weeks ahead at 2 years old and nine months ahead at 5, and KinderCare kindergarteners test three months ahead of expectations for first-grade students.
“This new partnership between UAB and KinderCare is going to take our already exceptional Child Development Center to an even higher level,” Jones said. “It is an honor to care for the children of our faculty and staff while they work to advance all parts of the UAB mission, and we are excited about what the future of the center holds for them.”
A taskforce representing UAB faculty and staff, Child Development Center employees, parents who use the center and other key constituents was formed in 2016 to explore enhancements to the center. The partnership with KinderCare, formally approved by the UA System Board of Trustees in September 2020, becomes effective Jan. 11. A timeline for opening the new center has not yet been determined; more details to come in the UAB Reporter and eReporter.
Child Development Center employees were given the opportunity to continue their employment with KinderCare and offered competitive benefits and retention and signing bonuses and continued access to the UAB education benefit. With this transition, the UAB Child Development Center will be managed by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration.
Direct questions regarding the center to UAB Child Development Center Director Rene Caddell at 934-7353.