Ybor City Child Development Lab School

The Ybor campus Child Development Center opened its doors during the spring semester of 2004. Its mission is to provide students, staff, and faculty with campus-based, affordable, and accessible quality child care for children ages one to five. The center is based on a developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) model*. The Ybor center has  earned accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)**. It is also an approved Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) site.  The center partners with Early Literacy Matter (ELM), Hillsborough County School Readiness programs, The University of Florida Positive Social Skills Teaching project, Nova Southeastern University Mailman's Institute Project Pitch and the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County Quality Counts for Kids project and has earned the Department of Children and Families Gold seal award.  The program participates in the State of Florida's USDA Food program.

Every year thousands of children are enrolled in approximately 550 early childhood centers in Hillsborough County.  These children, from infancy to five years of age, spend a significant portion of their young lives in the care of someone other than their parents or guardians.  For several hours each day they interact with early childhood educators and caregivers whose primary duty is to nurture, love, and educate them.  This is an awesome responsibility, in every sense of the word. Hillsborough County is proud to recognize those leaders in this industry by recognizing the childcare center directors who are entrusted with establishing and continually enhancing an environment that supports their employees, their community, and most importantly, our children and their families. (Mary J. West, DOY Chairperson)

The Ybor Child Development Center is also used as a teaching Lab School to provide exemplary lab experiences to students in early childhood education and other fields. The Ybor center is open from 7:30a.m. to 5:30p.m., Monday through Friday. The center follows the College’s calendar for closures.  For more information, or to schedule a tour, please call the Center at (813)259-6400. For a map of the Ybor campus, log onto /media/34684/yc_campus_map_color.pdf    

	We are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  "NAEYC accreditation is the mark of quality you can trust!" Click on the image to the left to find out more.
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For more information on developmentally appropriate practices, log onto  /media/143189/naecy%20position%20dev%20approp.pdf 
**"The primary gauge of quality has been accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children… whose seal of approval is regarded as the gold standard by parents, educators and facilities" Wall Street Journal 3/24/06