The lobby to UCLA’s new childcare center, located atop Westwood’s Ralph’s supermarket.
Silhouetted against a cloudy blue sky and the backdrop of Westwood’s high rise buildings, a child climbs onto a wooden play structure, smiles down at his mother, and goes down the slide.
On the patio, faculty and staff mingle with their children, who were just picked up from class.
The new UCLA Westwood Child Care Center sits on top of the Westwood Marketplace center, which also houses Ralphs and Best Buy.
The child care center is one of four centers affiliated with UCLA, said Gay Macdonald, executive director of the UCLA Early Care and Education centers.
While the other three centers are managed directly by ECE, this is the first center that is privately managed by Bright Horizons, an outside company that organizes and runs employer-provided child care, Macdonald said.
“The campus wanted to try a new model for the child care centers, and my department was at full employment, so we just wouldn’t be able to handle another center,” Macdonald said.
Although it officially opened Sept. 9, the center had its grand opening Tuesday, when UCLA board members could tour the new center, and parents had the opportunity to mingle together, said Meagan Garris, director of the center.
The new center was built in response to a high demand from the UCLA community for additional child care, Macdonald said.
Some faculty had to work shorter hours because their children were in day cares farther away from campus, and there were long waitlists for the centers every day.
“The location of the center is very close and convenient to the South Campus, and the Center can meet some needs that weren’t being met before,” Macdonald said.
The new center has longer working hours than the others, and will be open from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., Garris said.
For parents whose children go to the new center, the biggest advantage is the proximity to campus.
“It’s a very convenient location, because I can easily get here from work, and if I wanted to or if there was some emergency I could always come here,” said Jessica O’Connell, an assistant professor of vascular surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
For families who apply to have their children go to the child care center, priority is given first to children of UCLA faculty, staff and students. If that priority list has been satisfied, it is opened to grandchildren of UCLA affiliated families.
If all UCLA affiliated families have been accommodated, the remaining available spaces are offered to the Bright Horizons waitlist and the rest of the community.