New early childhood center highlights Catholic higher-ed pro-life trend

(OSV News) -- The University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, is launching a new early childhood center to care for the young children of its faculty and community members.

Announced Dec. 5, the Butler Center for Early Learning is expected to open early next summer. The new center continues the University of Mary's mission to reach out to its local community, the center's new director Jennifer Barry told OSV News.

"Opening an early childhood center has been an ongoing conversation," Barry said. "The University of Mary has a history of going out there in the community, in our region and beyond, and we see a need for high-quality early childhood services in Burleigh County."

According to a 2023 US News and World report, there is a shortage of high-quality, affordable early childhood centers across the United States. In Burleigh County, North Dakota, where the University of Mary resides, the current childcare capacity meets an estimated 21% of the demand, according to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services' 2024 report.

"Early childhood care is a very real issue. There's a real shortage of childcare and preschool in our community," Barry said. "We saw the needs, and then we were able to receive a grant from our state department of commerce through the Regional Workforce Impact Program to help us launch the program."

The $465,000 grant provided the necessary funds to renovate a building on the University of Mary's campus and update it to make it appropriate for early childhood care. It will enroll children from newborns to age 5.

Across the country, the cost of early childhood care has increased significantly, with parents on average paying between $5,300 to $17,200 annually according to the U.S. Department of Labor. With the university's gift allowing the early childhood center to use the building rent-free, the center will be able to keep costs lower for families as they do not have to pay rent or building fees.

"The primary way that we are able to keep the costs somewhat affordable is the generous use of the building," Barry said. "The entire building will be used for early childhood services. So that's just a generous gift to the community from the university. That's the primary reason that we're able to kind of keep the costs more affordable."

The early childhood center will also be able to use staff and students at the University of Mary to keep costs low.

The center will be able to use resources in the University of Mary's information technology and business offices. In addition, University of Mary professors and students will serve at the school, providing a hands-on learning experience.

"This will be valuable experience for our University of Mary students, as they'll be receiving hands-on experience and a multi-disciplinary approach to early childhood education," Barry said.

The early childcare center's preschool will use a Montessori approach, which emphasizes the unique identity of every child through a unique model that emphasizes freedom and multi-sensory learning.

"This approach is also very much in line with what current research in educational neuroscience tells us about how young children learn," Barry said. "Young children learn through multisensory learning. They learn by doing. The Montessori approach provides an environment where they have freedom within limits, they can make choices and they can learn to be independent."

By embracing the Montessori approach, Barry believes the early childhood care center will be able to live out the University of Mary's pro-life principles.

"We start with the acknowledgement that each child is uniquely and wonderfully made and that we have a role in helping parents help each child become who they're created to be," Barry said.

The University of Mary already has a robust pro-life organization on campus. In 2023, the school launched the St. Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mothers in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade. The program provides free room, board and childcare within a special community for young mothers who are students.

Other Catholic institutions of higher education have also implemented pro-life efforts in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision. Jennie Litcher, the new president of the national March for Life organization, helped start the Guadalupe Project at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The Guadalupe Project seeks to put into practice Catholic University's pro-life values by developing resources, awareness campaigns, and programs to assist mothers experiencing unplanned pregnancies.

"While reflecting on how to respond to the Dobbs decision, we talked about how we are not a lobbying organization, but our primary calling is to serve those who call the university home," Litcher told OSV News. "For us, that means pouring a lot of thought and resources into how to walk with undergraduates who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy; but it also means thinking about the best practices and creative ways to support our faculty and our staff."

Other Catholic institutions have created similar programs. Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina supports expectant and new mothers through its MiraVia program, which provides housing, board, and tuition at no cost for new and expectant mothers.

Litcher believes that after Dobbs, programs that focus on serving both mother and child -- both before and after birth -- are critical to the pro-life movement.

"These programs are going to support and help women to choose life," Litcher said.

She emphasized that when universities have childcare centers or assistance programs it sends a powerful message to young women going through pregnancy.

"They help the woman to see that they are not alone," she said, "and that there are resources to help them."