Hoping to increase child‑care spaces on campus

Pharmacy society pitches in to support UCC expansion plans.

- May 12, 2011

Margo Kirk is the executive director of University Children's Centre. (Nick Pearce Photo)
Margo Kirk is the executive director of University Children's Centre. (Nick Pearce Photo)

With more than 5,700 faculty and staff, there are a lot of parents in the Dalhousie community—not to mention students who have children of their own. And like with all parents, reliable, quality early childhood education and care is a top concern for them.

Since 1967, the University Children’s Centre (UCC) has worked to alleviate that concern. Supported by Dalhousie through a lease and service contract, the centre is an independent entity that teaches and cares for 100 children in two locations: one on South Street, and one in the Life Sciences Centre.

Wait-list woes


The problem: That’s not even close to meeting demand.

“When we did a review of our wait list numbers back in January, we had over 100 families on our infant list who were looking to get in sometime between now and September,” explains Margo Kirk, the centre’s executive director. “We expect to have nine spots open up by that time.”

The centre’s wait list works on a first-come, first-serve basis, although Ms. Kirk cautions that even then, the child’s age has to line up with the vacancy—an infant cannot fill a vacancy in the preschool class, for example, so enrolment opportunities are dictated by age group. While the centre does prioritize applications from the Dalhousie community, they simply can’t keep up with that need. It reflects a much broader issue across Halifax—a lack of child care spaces.

“It’s very possible that you could put your name on the list immediately after learning that you’re pregnant, and still never get a spot,” she says.

Some in the Dalhousie community are working to change that. The UCC growth/expansion committee brings together members of the centre’s board with Dalhousie student, staff, faculty and administration representatives to work on raising funds to support more childcare spaces within a five-year expansion plan.. Their goal is to raise $500,000 to offset operational start-up costs for new, expanded facilities.

Joining that cause is the Dalhousie Student Pharmacy Society. Upon learning of the centre’s fundraising initiative through David Jakeman, a professor in the College of Pharmacy, the society’s leadership agreed to donate the funds raised from its yearly skit night to the centre. The sell-out event, which took place at the end of April, raised $3,000.

“We support a lot of national and international charities as well, but this was a chance to do something right here at Dalhousie,” explains second-year student Holly McDonald. “We have students in our program with children who this affects.”

Supporting the cause


Dr. Jakeman’s partner, Alison Thompson, is taking a leading role in raising attention for the centre. She’s not only been through the child care issue herself: as a professor, she’s seen students, peers and others in the Dalhousie community deal with it.

“That’s extremely stressful for someone trying to plan to come back to school or work. It was one of the most stressful experiences I’ve ever been through.”

She’s hoping that more student societies will select the university child care project as their charity of choice. She points out that donors can contribute to the childcare growth/expansion project online through Dalhousie, under the “University Child Care Project.”


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