Construction of Cornell's new child-care center is on track to open in fall 2008.

"Planning meetings and discussions about the child-care center have been ongoing all winter," said Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the Office for Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality (WDELQ). "Now that the foundation has been poured and structural steel is starting to go up, people are beginning to see that the center will be a reality and are asking questions about getting their children enrolled."

To help answer many of those questions, WDELQ has scheduled information sessions in March and April. Questions are expected to range from the layout and capacity of the new facility to the cost of care and how to apply child-care grant subsidies to the center's fees.

"We are still working out the details of costs and funding and will begin to accept and review applications to the child-care center sometime after all the information sessions are held," said Chappell-Williams.

The child-care center is being built to respond to the growing need in the Tompkins County area for quality care, particularly infant and toddler care. The center will provide care and early education for 158 children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years, of Cornell staff, faculty and students. It is designed to accommodate 48 infants, 50 toddlers and 60 preschool children.

Located on Pleasant Grove Road in the village of Cayuga Heights, just north of the university's "A" parking lot, the 16,240-square-foot facility will be a quality center, expected to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It will be operated by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which runs more than 600 employer-sponsored centers in the United States, Europe and Canada and is chaired and was founded by Linda Mason '76.

Up-to-date information on the center can be found at http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/workLife/childcare.