Princeton University has selected U-NOW Day Nursery to provide child care for a new full-day, on-campus child care center that is anticipated to open in about four years. The new center will serve around 150 to 180 children from infants to age 5 and will be available to children of University faculty, staff and graduate students. Children from the community may be eligible for enrollment after all faculty, staff and graduate student demand is met.
"The child care program for the new center was carefully developed by considering the evolving needs of the University population," said Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin. "We are particularly focused on ensuring that the program meets the most critical needs that were identified in a survey of our faculty. I am confident that a partnership with U-NOW lets us provide the best support to faculty members as they balance their need for high quality and convenient care for their young children while they engage in the teaching and research that are at the core of the University's mission. This will be an important part of our family-friendly offerings going forward."
Key program elements will include extended full-day hours, increased enrollment flexibility and expanded capacity to care for infants and young toddlers. In keeping with the shared commitment of U-NOW and the University to providing high-quality child care for the University community, the new program will seek accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
"The core values of U-NOW are well aligned with the University's pledge to create a family-friendly environment for faculty, staff and students," said Vice President for Human Resources Lianne Sullivan-Crowley. "The partnership with U-NOW to develop and operate the new child care center is an important complement to other family-friendly initiatives that have been established in recent years for the University community, including a robust back-up care program for children and adults as well as need-based grants for child care."
"U-NOW is excited and grateful for this opportunity, and we look forward to working even more closely with the University going forward," said U-NOW Director Susan Bertrand. "It will be a privilege to work with Princeton to provide excellent care to more University families with young children in the coming years."
For decades, U-NOW has partnered with the University to care for and educate young children in the Princeton community. Currently, U-NOW provides care to about 80 children in a facility that is owned and maintained by the University at 171 Broadmead. This facility is currently shared with University League Nursery School (ULNS), a cooperative partial-day preschool that serves about 100 children, about half of them from University families.
The University's latest review of 171 Broadmead suggests that the building is nearing the end of its lifespan. It will be retired when the new center opens. The new center will be built at a yet-to-be-determined site near the 171 Broadmead building. Maryann Thompson Architects, a Cambridge, Mass.-based architecture firm with extensive experience designing child care centers, has been selected to design the facility.
U-NOW was selected as the program provider based on its response to a University request for proposals to develop and operate the new center. ULNS chose not to pursue the management of the new center but expressed interest in continuing to operate its program after the facility at 171 Broadmead closes. The University will seek to identify appropriate ways in which it might continue to support the ULNS program for University families and assist in the transition process over the next four years.