College of Education - Helen Gordon Child Development Center

OUR STORY For more nearly 50 years, Helen Gordon Child Development Center has been providing quality preschool education for the children of Portland State University’s students, faculty and staff, as well as families in the greater Portland community. Located in a historic building on the corner of southwest 12th Avenue and Market Street, Helen Gordon Center has gained a reputation for its innovative programs, excellent teachers, and creative learning environment. The Center enrolls over 200 children aged 4 months to 5 years. With strong links to PSU’s College of Education, HGCDC is a vibrant learning community for current and future educators, impacting countless schools and programs throughout the region. The Center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. OUR MISSION Provide students and faculty/staff parents with a high-quality on-campus early education and child care program Serve as an academic resource, welcoming participation by University faculty and students in the fields of early childhood education, child and family studies, psychology and related fields. OUR HISTORY Childcare began at Portland State University in 1971 as the result of efforts of a small, yet strong and committed group of student mothers who staged a sit-down in the university President's office. A small program began with twenty children housed in the basement of Smith Memorial Center. The program moved to its current location in 1973 and gradually grew to its present enrollment capacity. In 1974 the Portland State Daycare Center was renamed the Helen Gordon Child Development Center, in honor of the late Helen Gordon, who was a strong advocate for the early childhood community and was instrumental in bringing childcare to PSU. While there have been changes over the years in response to family needs and progress in the early childhood professional field, the program has maintained a strong presence on the University campus and within the Portland community. We are fortunate to have a spacious and home-like environment in a building constructed for children's programs in 1928 by the Fruit and Flower Mission. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. In 2003, the Center underwent a renovation and expansion of services to include infants and young toddlers as well as kindergarten programming. Housed on its third floor, the program has also grown to include a Master's specialization in early childhood education and a PSU Remida Center—a repository and learning center for material sustainability in education, the arts and architecture. Students from various departments on campus take academic courses on the third floor and come down to work in the laboratory school for ongoing course activities, research and practice. As PSU continues to grow more expansion of services are bound to add to Helen Gordon Center's longstanding history.