Base celebrates CDC South grand opening Published Dec. 13, 2013 By Kimberly Woodruff Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- After many years of planning and waiting, a third Child Development Center, CDC South, opened Nov. 4, nearly three years after the Dec. 18, 2010, groundbreaking. An official grand opening ceremony was held Dec. 5. "I am just so excited that we are finally able to open this wonderful new facility so we can continue to provide even more quality childcare that is so important to our community," said new Airman and Family Services Flight Chief Mary Duncan. "The CDC staff members are very excited too, you can see it on each of their faces." The state-of-the-art facility has 13 classrooms for up to 182 children. The center includes two safe rooms and a large kitchen that was designed to accommodate future additions. The new CDC design follows Air Force standards and it is built in a T-shape so that additional classrooms can be added on the ends of either the infant wing, pre-toddler wing or pre-school wing. Due to the large population of the Tinker community, there has always been a waiting list to get childcare on base. With the addition of the new south facility, the waiting list will be significantly reduced if not eliminated. While demand can change from day to day, and the waiting list for infant care is usually longer, as of now, anyone with toddler age children, age 2 to 5 years old can go to the Resource and Referral office and be placed immediately in one of the CDCs. The 72nd Force Support Squadron is still bringing on more staff for the new facility. Interested persons should log on to www.nafjobs.org to apply. "It does take a while to get on board as there are thorough background checks and plenty of training that goes on before anyone is left with the children, as parents would expect and demand for their children," said Ms. Duncan. The CDC East and West facilities have construction ongoing and the West facility is opening another infant room to accommodate the number of infants needing care. The opening of the south facility has been a gradual one, starting Nov. 4. The first three rooms were opened up and children whose parents had requested to go to the new facility were transferred from the West facility. The transition was smooth and the children are having a ball playing on the new playground equipment. "It was a flight and squadron effort to get everything together for the opening," Ms. Duncan said. "The Youth Center team and CDC employees spent countless hours opening boxes and arranging the rooms. FSS Logistics helped out by moving all the furniture into place. It really took everyone coming together as a team to make this happen and they deserve all the thanks in the world." The next step for CDC South is the accreditation process, which started the day the facility opened. By next November, CDC South will be able to apply for candidacy and Ms. Duncan says, "These folks are superstars and I have no doubt they will succeed. They will shine brightly."