UNO's child care flourishes as UNL's closes

OMAHA - The University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln aren't just sister institutes, they're practically neighbors.

But as far as child care goes, the two schools don't compare.

What was once a house bordering the Omaha campus now is a center for educating the minds of young children.

UNL's year-round University Child Care center, now housed off campus at the YWCA, will close in April, leaving only the Ruth Staples Child Development Lab, which is open from the first week of the fall semester through the end of June and accepts children ages 3 to 5.

Even with the University of Nebraska's flagship school closing its child care center indefinitely, the UNO Child Care Center will continue to provide child care services to the students, faculty, staff and alumni.

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UNO Child Care Center first opened its doors in 1986, said Dawn Hove, the director of the center.

There are 79 children enrolled in the full and part-time care offered at the center, Hove said. Children older than 18 months through preschool are accepted. During the summers, the center offers child care for school-age children.

The center celebrated its 20th anniversary last August.

From the street, UNOCCC looks like a house that somehow made it onto the edge of the university's main campus.

But inside, it is a different story. The old garage is now a classroom. The front yard is a fenced-in playground. The basement walls are covered in painted handprints from children enrolled at the center.

And while the confines of the house's structure gives the center a unique floor plan, it still manages to hold several classrooms.

"We work with what we have," Hove said.

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The center was created after the UNO Student Government pushed for it to be established, Hove said.

Barb Treadway, the director of student organizations and leadership development at UNO, advises the student government and was a member when it promoted a child care center in the 1980s.

"There was a huge need for students to have a place to take their kids," Treadway said.

At the time, Treadway said, UNO had a large number of nontraditional students, and it still does, making the need for child care an especially important issue.

As a student, having the university child care center saves time and money, said Jennifer Saderstrom, a business major whose 4-year-old son attends UNOCCC. Saderstrom saves money by enrolling her child part time.

Because the center is affordable, Saderstrom said she doesn't have to rely on family and friends to take care of her son.

"It means I can have more flexibility in my schedule," she said.

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The parents and family members of the children at UNOCCC are an important part of the center's community, Hove said.

On the wall of the center's multipurpose room hangs a tree known as the "giving tree." The tree shows various items people can donate, such as baking supplies.

Hove said the center has an active parents' organization that is a significant part of the center.

Saderstrom is also a co-chairwoman of the center's parent organization, C.H.A.M.P.S., which stands for Children Home Academics Motivation Parents Support.

C.H.A.M.P.S. is an organization for the family members of enrolled children, Saderstrom said. The group supports UNOCCC by holding fundraisers to help the center buy equipment it needs.

"If the teachers need something," Saderstrom said, "we get it."

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The child care center is an important presence on the university's campus and benefits members of the university community, Hove said.

Children from the center participate in a number of campus activities, she said.

The children give back to the community by baking goods for people who help run the center, including UNO's maintenance staff and the UNO chancellor.

Tim Kaldahl, the interim director of communications at UNO, said Interim Chancellor John Christensen has enjoyed visits from the children at the child care center and even used some of their drawings as the cover of his holiday letter this year.

Laura Grams, an assistant professor of philosophy at UNO, said having the child care center on campus is the most important benefit of her job at the university.

Having a child care center is an important means for keeping quality employees at the university, Grams said, and it shows that the university is a family-friendly place.

With the center's convenient location, Grams cuts time from her commute, as she does not have to drive elsewhere to drop off and pick up her daughter.

"It means I don't have to worry about my child as much because she's on campus with me," Grams said.