Notre Dame has partnered with KinderCare, the nation’s largest childcare and early education provider, to open a new location on campus which serves the families of Notre Dame faculty, staff and students.
The new facility was opened to work in tandem with the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), which has been providing childcare for Notre Dame families for over 50 years.
Previously, the ECDC program provided care for children that were over the age of two. The addition of this new KinderCare center provides for children as young as six weeks old.
The collaboration of both of these centers is meant to serve a larger range of children and extend more support to the teachers, staff and students of the university.
Shannon Cullinan, the University’s executive vice president, explained the making of this new facility and the process of working to support Notre Dame families in a statement he wrote to The Observer.
“In 2020, the University established a task force called the Child Care Resources Working Group to research and assess the need for child care among Notre Dame faculty, staff, and students,” Cullinan wrote. “This group found that, while the University’s Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) served families starting at two years of age, many parents experienced difficulties finding programs in our region that accepted children ages 0 to 2.”
The new KinderCare facility fills this gap by admitting children as young as six weeks old. In total, the facility can accommodate up to 150 children.
“It’s one of the many ways Notre Dame is working to ensure that our faculty, staff, and students can thrive, both professionally and personally,” John McGreevy, University provost, wrote in a statement. “Investing in our people, investing in our community, and working together as an institution to make it all happen is exactly the kind of work Notre Dame’s Strategic Framework calls us to do.”
“In addition to the support it offers parenting students, this facility enables the University to provide faculty and staff with either paid leave or access to on-campus child care from their child’s birth all the way to kindergarten,” Cullinan wrote.
The new KinderCare opened in late August and is currently open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“As of last month, there are already more than 100 families enrolled at our KinderCare location, with space for even more. Importantly, the new KinderCare facility does not negate the role of the ECDC in Notre Dame’s child care offerings, since it will primarily cater to families with children who are not yet eligible to attend an ECDC location,” Cullinan wrote.
Heather Christophersen, vice president for human resources, emphasized the support that this facility offers to the Notre Dame community.
“We are thrilled to have opened the new KinderCare facility this August as a way to support our campus community. We know how important it is for our faculty, staff, and students to have access to quality, reliable childcare,” Christophersen wrote in a statement to the Observer. “This space was created with our Notre Dame families in mind, because being part of this community means knowing your family matters too.”
