To create a new child care center

With financial contributions from President Rudenstine, Dean Robert Clark of the Law School, and Dean Jeremy R. Knowles of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and a site provided by Vice President for Administration Sally Zeckhauser, the University will construct a new $1.5 million child care center within the Botanic Gardens, a Harvard housing complex. The new center will replace the Harvard Law School (HLS) Child Care Center, located on Everett Street.

Individuals from many parts of the University and from the HLS Center have worked together to make the new facility, which will house 59 children, including infants, a reality. Groundbreaking will be in June with a grand opening scheduled for January 1999.

Following is a summary of the many cooperative efforts that turned a challenge into an opportunity for progress.

The Challenge

Anyone who has struggled with the difficulties of finding good child care can understand the predicament faced by the parents of children attending the Harvard Law School Child Care Center when the Law School announced its intention to reclaim the Center's space for academic use.

"The parents and children using the Center had become an extended family," explains Beth Gibb, former president of the Center's board. "We were worried about the future of our group and about maintaining the excellent child care we were used to."

The HLS center, which has been providing nurturing professional care for children at 23 Everett St. since 1971, has many ardent supporters. Gibb, whose husband, Markus Meister, is the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, worked with other parents who were using or had used the Center, including many law school faculty, to bring the issue to the attention of the University.

"As soon as we heard about the potential shutdown, a coalition of interested folks began to work together to urge the University to take some action," says Gibb. "I worked with Kathy Buckley, a professor at the Medical School, and Lynn Shirey, a librarian at the Law School, and many other parents as well as members of the HLS Child Center staff to get the word out."

Coincidentally, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women in the FAS issued a report on "The Child Care Experiences and Needs of Junior Faculty," which recommended, among other things, that FAS establish a day care center adjacent to the Yard.

"Harvard has long had a strong commitment to child care," explains Associate Vice President for Human Resources Polly Price, "as evidenced by the six child care centers operated in Harvard-owned buildings. Although the centers are not run by the University, Harvard schools and departments provide the space, utilities, and landlord services for them at a total yearly cost of nearly $600,000. These subsidies make it possible for the centers to pay better salaries than most and thus attract and keep a corps of well-trained teachers."

"No one wanted to see one of the centers disappear," said Judy Walker, co-director of the Office of Work and Family, who, with her co-manager, Cyndie White, acts as a liaison between the centers and the University, "but the problem was finding new space at a time when each of the six Harvard faculties located in Cambridge is already confronting physical constraints which affect the academic mission."
"And not just any space will do," explains Kathy Spiegelman, associate vice president for planning and real estate. "Harvard's commitment to child care involves high quality space well-suited to nurturing young children."

The Opportunity

What began as a challenge became a golden opportunity when three units pledged financial support. President Rudenstine and Dean Robert C. Clark of the Law School agreed to fund construction of the new building and Dean Knowles of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences agreed to fund the Center's ongoing operating expenses. The Law School also agreed to delay its takeover of the existing site until the new center was completed.

"It took the contributions of each party to make this happen," says Price. "Instead of losing a child care center for 43 youngsters in a renovated house, we will be able to offer care for 59 children in a brand new building designed specifically and only for this purpose."

In addition to accommodating more children, the new center will offer infant care, a change that was particularly important to Law School faculty.

Susan Keller, director of residential real estate, recommended that the new center be located at Botanic Gardens, a Harvard housing complex, since the placement of child care adjacent to affiliated housing is a proven and successful combination at three other Harvard-owned residential complexes (Peabody Terrace, DeWolfe Street Housing, and Soldiers Field Park).

The new building, which will be located on Robinson Street, required zoning variances from the city of Cambridge and extensive meetings with area residents. Mary Power, Harvard's director of Cambridge community relations, worked with the neighbors to solve problems about such issues as parking and traffic. She was helped by Cambridge City Councilors Kathy Born and Frank Duehay, who, along with Jill Herold of the city's human services department, were eager to see new child care space created with some openings available to Cambridge residents.

"The residential site is a big advantage to the center," says Power, "but it requires adjustments by the neighbors and we've worked hard to accommodate the concerns of those who will be affected."

The new one-story facility will go up on a space currently occupied by two small parking garages used by Botanic Gardens residents. New parking spaces will be constructed under the building.

One of the new center's neighbors, Harvard University Press, has agreed to give up some of its current parking spaces to be used as dropoff and pickup for the children in exchange for spaces in the new underground parking area.

Open House for Families Interested in Signing up

Groundbreaking for the new building is set for this June, with January 1999 as the date for the grand opening. Thus the child care program will move halfway through the year. Parents who are interested in signing up for next year are invited to attend an Open House on Sunday, March 15, at 23 Everett St., where a model of the new center will be on display. (Some of Harvard's other child care centers will also be holding open houses for prospective parents. Call the Office for Work and Family at 495-4100 for information about these events.)

"We are thrilled with this outcome," says Jim Morin, director of the Law School Center. "Not only will we be able to preserve the community of parents, teachers, and children who have developed such strong bonds, but we are now involved in planning for brand new space especially designed for child care . . . a rare opportunity."

Morin and other members of the Center's board have been meeting weekly with the Harvard Planning and Real Estate project team led by Jonathan Lavash, senior project manager, and Susan Keller, client executive. The team includes Miguel Gomez-Ibañez, principal of MGIA Architects (the primary architect), and Brook Design Associates, childcare design consultants, as well as Judy Walker from the Office for Work and Family and building operations professionals.

"It's very exciting to be in on this planning process," says Morin. "We've found the architects and the planning team to be very responsive to our suggestions.

"The new center will have more spacious and efficient rooms than the old one did, with easier access to bathrooms and to water supply. It will also include open play space inside and outside that can be shared with the children who live in Botanic Gardens. This is certainly a win for us and a tribute to the University's continuing commitment to child care."

For more information about the center, call Jim Morin at 876-3394. To find out more about child care options in the area, call the Office of Work and Family at 495-4100.