Parents, if you have unmet child care needs, then the Center for Child Care & Family Resources is here for you. Openings are available to care for children across seven campus locations, which include four full-day child care centers, two preschool programs, one Head Start program and one summer camp.
“We are here for parents and their children who continue to experience a child care gap,” said Shauna Lower, director, . “Naturally, the pandemic is a concern and our staff at all locations strictly adhere to all COVID-19 health guidelines in order to keep those in their care as safe as possible.”
On-campus child care services
Applications open Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 for the 2021-22 school year. Children must have birth dates on or before March 1, 2017. Apply Salt Lake CAP Head Start Program (SLCAP Head Start).
Located in the West Village, the Headstart and Early Head Start programs accept applications year-round for children 0-5. More information can be found here.
Applications are currently open to serve children from 6 weeks-10 years of age. Apply here.
Currently enrolled U students and families living in the University Student Apartments have priority placement at the center, serving children 6 weeks to 10 years of age. Once student families are accommodated, UKids East Village accommodates University staff/faculty followed by community members. UKids East Village is currently housed in the UKids Presidents Circle location. Apply here.
Serving U students, faculty and staff first, community members may also apply to be waitlisted. Serving children 6 weeks to 6 years of age with a Private Kindergarten. Enrollment for 2021-22 Private Kindergarten begins January 20, 2021. Apply here.
Serving children 6 weeks to 10 years of age, BioKids offers infant/toddler, discovery preschool and preschool programs. Apply here.
This year-round, full-time, early childhood education facility serves children age 1 to 5 years in age in collaboration with the Family & Consumer Studies Department. Apply here.
Additional resources
Family and Child Care Resources
Collaborating with entities from across campus and the University of Utah Health system, the Center for Child Care and Family Resources has established a webpage dedicated to helping parents find the resources they need.
Balancing responsibilities at work and at home is particularly challenging under the current circumstances. Helping our employees with their family and child care needs is a campus-wide OneU effort supported by Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Reed and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences Michael Good.
Expanded and subsidized child care facility options for school-age children
With a grant from the state, the Utah Office of Child Care is subsidizing school-age child care at more than 70 child care programs throughout the Wasatch front with priority for essential workers. Participating programs offer child care during the school day for school-age children. To make care affordable for families, every program has a sliding fee scale in place that establishes a rate for care based on a family's income. Employees should contact the program(s) directly to determine capacity and hours of operations.
Learning Center Tutoring
The University Learning Center will offer expanded tutoring for students in grades 6 -12 who are children of U employees. The university will sponsor up to 10 hours of tutoring per child until funds are exhausted. When those hours are utilized, families may continue to pay out-of-pocket for additional hours at a rate of $11/hour.
UMatch
Created by the Center for Child Care and Family Resources, is a way for faculty, staff and students to find child care arrangements within the University of Utah community. Those with a uNID can search for babysitters or nannies using criteria like location, dates needed, children’s ages and health status (if a provider is willing to care for an ill child). They can also look for arrangements to share child care responsibilities with another person that has a schedule that accommodates both parties.
In addition to child care, university community members can search for tutors or pet sitters. Once a match is made for child care, tutoring or pet care, the two parties are allowed to exchange information and work out their arrangements. UMatch does not verify any qualifications or vet if a provider is licensed to provide child care. This is information the two parties should discuss after a match is made if they wish to do so. Learn more here.
Komae
Komae—Greek for “village”—is a free app that provides parents with flexible care management options. Parents can identify and vet families with similar parenting styles and COVID-19 hygiene practices to build their pod for shared child care and education. So, whether you are a student, a faculty or staff member and work from home, on-site or a combination of both, you can find your village.
Komae is like a large babysitting co-op. Families can form small “quaranteams” to take turns caring for each other’s children and learning pods. The ideal is to keep the child care equal and even between families so they trade “Komae Points,” 1 hour = 1 Komae Point. Learn more here.