To the Leadership of the University of New Hampshire and the University System of New Hampshire

We urge the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) to stop the Child Development and Management Request for Proposal (RFP) for the operation of UNH’s Child Study and Development Center (CSDC), and instead work with current CSDC staff to find a sustainable path forward for the center.

The loss of the CSDC as it currently operates will have profound and lasting negative consequences for children, families, UNH students, faculty, staff, and the broader community. As a UNH-operated lab school and vital hub for early childhood education and care, its outsourcing will severely undercut the university’s mission, workforce productivity, and regional economic development. The abrupt RFP process—announced without family input and during a critical time—leaves UNH faculty and staff uncertain about their child care amid an existing regional crisis, jeopardizing their ability to work, teach, and conduct research, and ultimately harming the reputation and effectiveness of both UNH and USNH.

The CSDC is not a daycare, but one of only six NAEYC-accredited centers in the New Hampshire seacoast region, offering a comprehensive curriculum rooted in the Reggio Emilia Approach—an educational philosophy that views children as capable, curious learners who grow through relationships and expressive exploration. This model provides developmentally critical care during the most formative years, fostering cognitive, social, and emotional growth in ways that private centers cannot replicate.

The CSDC plays a vital role not only for enrolled families but also as a cornerstone of experiential education, research, and workforce training for UNH students across numerous disciplines. Outsourcing the center would significantly erode the quality of these academic experiences, weaken its service mission, and risk declining student enrollment from those who choose UNH specifically for the opportunity to train at the CSDC.

The CSDC is not simply a budget line item but a critical long-term investment in child development, educational innovation, and research that benefits UNH and the broader region. Its value far exceeds its cost, and only UNH—not a for-profit provider—is equipped to deliver the quality and impact the center represents.

We, the undersigned, comprise the University of New Hampshire. We are parents of young children and alumni of the UNH Child Study and Development Center. We are UNH faculty and staff across the entire university. We are undergraduate and graduate students across many fields of study who chose UNH in part because it meant the opportunity to train in our field at the CSDC. We are UNH alumni who have trained in early childhood education, human development and family studies, communication sciences and disorders, occupational therapy, and nursing practica at the CSDC. We are UNH students and faculty who conduct research at the CSDC. We are the community and broader public who are invested in the future of UNH and bear witness to the myriad benefits the CSDC provides our university, the community, the state, and the region.

We, the undersigned, urge USNH to immediately halt the RFP process to outsource the operation of the CSDC. Instead, we call on USNH to engage in transparent dialogue with the CSDC staff, families, faculty, and university partners to find a sustainable, collaborative solution that maintains the CSDC as the indispensable, university-operated center it is today.