Tackling the Child Care Crisis
Accessible, affordable child care is among the region’s biggest needs— shortages of skilled professionals have forced child care programs to close, preventing parents from joining (or rejoining) the workforce. Columbus State is working to address both the problem and its cause.
Early Childhood Development and Education
The Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) program at Columbus State prepares today's professionals to work with children and families in a variety of settings. Whether you want to earn your CDA in our Gold Standard Preparation Program or earn an industry-recognized Associate Degree that will help you gain immediate employment, ECDE has convenient options that can meet your educational needs!
Building the Future of Child Care
Columbus State’s new child care center will set a new standard for early childhood education while adding badly needed care capacity.
In January 2023, Columbus State announced an investment of $3.5 million to construct
the Center for Early Learning, designed to train the next generation of skilled child
care professionals in Central Ohio. The center is expected to open in the fourth quarter
of 2023 adjacent to the Center for Workforce Development, on Columbus State’s downtown
campus.
- The new center will serve Columbus State student-parents, Columbus State employees, and other parents in the community for whom access to child care remains a barrier.
- With capacity for nearly 100 children, the center will have six classrooms: three infant-to-toddler rooms and three for pre-K instruction.
- Construction is funded by proceeds from a $300 million bond issue approved by Franklin County voters in April 2020 intended to modernize classrooms, labs, and campus infrastructure for the benefit of regional workforce development.
- The Childhood Development Council of Franklin County, Inc., (CDCFC) was selected to provide child care services at the new center. The CDCFC has provided high-quality, comprehensive services for 38 years and is committed to an affordability focus, offering sliding-scale fees based on family income.
This is one of the first projects out of the gate as part of our $300 million bond issue supported by Franklin County voters. Access to child care is in crisis in our community. We wanted to be part of the solution for that.
- Dr. Rebecca Butler, Executive Vice President,
Columbus State Community College