In May 2026, Swarthmore College posted a notice announcing tentative plans to collaborate with the local Trinity Cooperative Day Nursery (TCDN) to open a new childcare center on college-owned property. The center would provide care for infants through kindergarten-aged children, helping to mitigate the childcare shortage currently affecting the Swarthmore borough and surrounding communities.
In an email correspondence with the Phoenix, TCDN Executive Director Donna Wade described the vision for the new center: “In line with TCDN’s longstanding commitment to excellence, [the childcare center] will expand access to the same high-quality care offered at our Chester Road location, help reduce the long wait times families currently face when enrolling their children, and offer infant care — a critical service not yet available in the Swarthmore community.”
The center would be located near the Mary Lyons dormitory, on a plot of land that formerly housed two buildings of the Mary Lyon School campus, a boarding school that operated until 1942 and was purchased by the college in 1948. According to the notice, the college has hired an architect to evaluate the project’s feasibility, in collaboration with TCDN. The school is also studying the potential impact of the increased traffic that the center would bring to the area.
Wade explained that Swarthmore and TCDN have discussed the possibility of a collaboration since 1985. For decades, college faculty and staff have been clients of the nursery.
Rob Goldberg, Vice President of Finance & Administration, added that the nursery has a “stellar reputation in the region for childcare services.” However, in more recent years, quality childcare of this kind has been increasingly hard to come by for local residents, including college employees.
Nursery Looks to Fill Local Care Gaps
According to a recently published report by The Center for American Progress, the United States is in the midst of a childcare crisis, with 46% of children under the age of six living in “childcare deserts” nationwide. A childcare desert is defined as an area in which there are at least three children under the age of six for every licensed slot for care.
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer this spring, many Philadelphia suburbs are experiencing acute childcare difficulties. Low wages and high job turnover, as well as increased costs of care for parents and guardians, have contributed to the shortage. A 2026 report by Reinvestment Fund found that Delaware County has approximately 24,100 childcare seats for roughly 29,200 children who need care.
Wade explained that TCDN and the college are working to determine how best to ensure that Swarthmore employees will have access to the new childcare center while also providing care to the broader community. However, at this time, there are no plans for a discount for enrollment or monthly tuition for Swarthmore College’s staff and faculty.
Wade noted that a lab school model, in which Swarthmore students would be able to work with children from the center for research purposes, has not yet been considered. However, she emphasized that TCDN would be open to pursuing the lab model, or other care models, should they meet the needs of all involved parties.
Bryn Mawr College does make use of the lab school approach at its on-campus childcare center, the Phebe Anna Thorne School. Students at Bryn Mawr can visit the school to conduct undergraduate research in education, psychology, and social work. They also have the opportunity to work as classroom aides to gain real-world experience.
Wade clarified that TCDN has previously hosted Swarthmore students to observe classes for psychology or sociology research, but the nursery is not currently affiliated with Swarthmore College in the same way that the Phebe Anna Thorne School is with Bryn Mawr College.
A Partnership Moves Forward
The partnership with TCDN comes alongside multiple other collaborations between the college and the borough, most recently in the ongoing Cunningham field negotiations and a $638,000 payment in lieu of taxes to close the borough’s funding gap and prevent the addition of an earned income tax on residents.
Goldberg added that the college is the borough’s largest employer and highlighted efforts to develop a strong relationship with the local community: “Our open campus, Scott Arboretum and Gardens, free performances and lectures, and sponsorships of various borough initiatives add to the intellectual and cultural vibrancy that makes Swarthmore so special. In this sense, our collaboration with TCDN is important to help meet the demand for childcare services in the area and reinforces our connection to the borough and its surrounding neighborhoods.”
With the project still in its infancy, Wade acknowledges the scope of the task ahead: “Although supporting the community’s needs by providing additional high-quality childcare in Swarthmore has long been a vision of TCDN and Swarthmore College, all our plans for this project are still in the preliminary stages. We still have a lot of work to do to bring our vision to life.”
Both TCDN and the college will continue to update the community on further progress.
