March 2, 2006

Poised with shovels are LATTC Vice President of Student Services Ramon Castillo; LATTC Foundation President Steve Needleman; LACCD Trustee Nancy Pearlman; LACCD Executive Director of Facilities and Planning, Larry Eisenberg; Dr. Tom K. Harris, LATTC Interim President; and Child Development Center Director Pauline Carrillo.

More than 20 children played "Bob the Builder" Thursday at the site for a new Child Development Center on the campus of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

"I've been to ground breakings in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Thailand," said Dennis Antenucci of Morillo Construction, Inc., project contractors. "But this was the most exciting. Just to see the little people poking the dirt with their little plastic shovels and the hard hats . that's very endearing," he said.

The new Child Development Center will be a two-story complex, providing approx. 14,238 sq. feet of space for optimal learning and teacher training. This extra space will allow the Center to increase its capacity from 50 to 96 children, ranging in age from infancy to 12 years.

The building will also house an infant classroom - a first for the College's Child Development Center - and new auxiliary space that will serve as a library/conference room accessible to parents of children enrolled at the Center.

The project has been 30 years in the making.

"In 1975, we opened our Child Development Center in 'temporary facilities'," LATTC Interim President Dr. Tom Harris said. "Unfortunately, living in temporary quarters is not rare in education."

Pauline Carrillo, Director of the Child Development Center, praised Harris for his giving the project the push it needed.

"He is Mr. Magic," Carrillo said. "Every day I drive past this corner to work and dirt has never looked so good to me."

The new Child Development Center, to be completed is March 2007, is part of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College's $242 million renovation and upgrade efforts to enhance and modernize its facilities. Funds are being provided by the State of California and proceeds from the $2.2 billion Prop. A/AA bonds passed by voters in 2001 and 2003.

For more information, visit the College's website at www.LATTC.edu.