KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Mexican American studies sophomore Josh Acun, and his son Shane wait for a ride at the UA Mall and North Cherry Avenue yesterday afternoon. Administrators met with workers from child-oriented businesses around Tucson yesterday in hopes of salvaging childcare on campus. The UA is the only Pacific 10 Conference school that does not offer childcare.

Representatives from school and daycare centers across Tucson met with Provost George Davis and Vice Provost Libby Ervin on Monday in an attempt to salvage plans for childcare at the UA.

Seventeen people from child-related organizations like United Way, Head Start, the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Child Development Center, the Jewish Community Center Early Learning Center and others took turns addressing Davis and Ervin on the need for an on-campus childcare center at the UA.

Last month, administrators ended the Early Childhood Development Center Project, a plan for a center that was to be built to study children and provide daycare for the UA community.

The UA is currently the only Pacific 10 Conference school without a daycare.

Speeches from those who visited Davis and Ervin yesterday all boiled down to one general theme: community.

"UA needs to speak to the needs of the community," said Pauline Baker, a Tucson teacher and community spokeswoman for the project.

Ervin and Davis listened to the interests and concerns addressed at the meeting, but said there were several factors that played into the decision to pull the funding on the project, Baker said.

Budget issues and lack of an on-site facility are the two biggest barriers facing the project, said Julia Butler, owner and director of the Second Street School, an off-campus preschool at 2430 E. Second St. that caters to children of parents at UA.

Last year, Butler proposed that UA use the Second Street School as a free one-year pilot for the childcare program.

UA administrators denied the offer, she said.

Ervin and Davis did not return Wildcat phone calls yesterday.

The group of educators and childcare providers launched a postcard campaign to present the issue to the larger Tucson population last week. The cards, which read "Bring Back the UA Child Development Center," are addressed to President Peter Likins.

Some student and faculty members are also carrying petitions that will go to Likins.

Butler has been an advocate of the center since its initial proposal eight years ago and has suggested it be housed at her preschool.

"People expect the UA to have a top-notch childcare center," Baker said. "If there is a focus of excellence, it can't be without a vision of children."

As of now, funding for the project has not been restored, but advocates are hopeful that UA will provide resources for families with children.

"Children might be a small part of the community now," said Lisa Nutt, director of The United Way First Focus on Kids program. "But they are 100 percent of our future."