Mission

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Children’s Center provides a high-quality early childhood care and learning program serving as an exemplary model for the support of the university , its students, and the field of early childhood education.

UHMCC supports the university by providing affordable, high-quality, on-campus child care primarily to UH parenting students to encourage enrollment and on-time graduation. Secondarily, we encourage the attraction and retention of high-quality child care. We support the early childhood education field by providing a model program to conduct pre-service training, and to conduct meaningful research in early child development, care, and learning.

Child care is not just about care and learning. It’s about making connections, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. It is an opportunity for children to learn who they are and to function in a learning community. It is also an opportunity for families to expand their support networks with peers who are dealing with similar issues and have similar interests.

Hōkūpa‘a

Poho pono nā pe‘a heke a kū ana.
A well-filled topsail helped him to arrive.

While this phrase is normally used to refer to a fast traveler, in the context of haukani, a swirling, playful Mānoa wind, we take this to mean that a correctly positioned topsail allows you to arrive at an intentional destination regardless of the direction of the wind. In life, we are often presented with people or situations who can throw us off our path and misdirect us. We can develop skills and knowledge that enable us to harness this often negative energy to create a positive outcome, and help us arrive at our intended destination.

Values

Be intentional
Be collaborative
Be personally relevant
Be reflective

We hold these values within ourselves, and encourage the expression of these values in our interactions with our children and their families.

Vision

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Children’s Center is the special place where children play, families gather, and passions are discovered.