When Hannah Fenlon became a mother three years ago, she felt isolated.

She’d just moved to Mt. Airy, a neighborhood she was excited about because of its reputation for strong community, but found it was hard to meet other parents. She’d go to playgrounds, but found that parents were too busy chasing after their tots, to really chat with one another. Kids were “not really welcome,” she says, at places like breweries or coffeeshops that she frequented before parenthood.

“We all know how hard it is to make friends as adults, and that gets doubly hard when you have kids,” she says. “You can build all the networks you want digitally, but it’s not going to matter unless you have a place to show up and look people in the face.”

She’s not alone in this feeling. Americans as a whole — 54 percent of them, one survey found — feel isolated, with parents especially likely to struggle. One study found 66 percent of parents reported that the demands of raising kids left them feeling isolated and alone.

Unready to succumb to the loneliness and burnout so many face in early parenthood, Fenlon teamed up with Linda Joy, a product designer at a tech startup and a mother of a six-year-old and a three-year-old, and Hannah Newman, a teacher turned stay-at-home mom of a three-year-old, to create Mt. Airy Family Commons, a volunteer-run co-op that helps families connect with one another.

This winter they opened CommonSpace, a cooperative indoor community space, for families to gather together while their children play. They opened the space in Holy Cross Catholic Church’s old convent as a pilot, set to run January through April. Already, the need for spaces like this is evident: They now have more than 80 member families.

Addressing the isolation of early parenthood

Fenlon has long been building community, working as an arts management consultant for arts and culture nonprofits. So much of her work involved selling the performing arts as an opportunity for people to “gather and connect and come together,” she says. “That’s a big part of how we sell and package the performing arts, especially in this day and age of increased isolation and AI.”

Figuring out how to build community came naturally to her. She started by sending out a survey to Mt. Airy families asking what they were looking for in a third space. Consistent themes emerged: Parents wanted somewhere indoors, where kids could play when the weather was bad. They did not, however, want anything too expensive — commercial, drop-in play spaces run around $20 per kid for a 60-minute session, which can add up quickly — or overstimulating, like a trampoline park.

Fenlon met Joy and Newman through the network of parents she was rallying around this project. The three of them started working on business models, applied to the Mount Airy CDC’s business incubator program and started making slide decks and refining their business models. They landed on a co-op, where parents could pay a small, sliding scale fee to use the space; built a website; created an LLC, and started cold-emailing local businesses to find someone who could play host.

Holy Cross Catholic Church responded with an unexpected offer: a recently empty convent.

“They saw the space, and they had all these great ideas,” says Shannon Sweeney, Holy Cross’s parish secretary, who’d go on to use the resulting venue with her five-year-old and a two-year-old. “In today’s society, everybody’s so busy,” Sweeney says, “It’s good to have a place where people can come together and support each other and listen to each other.”

From there, things moved quickly: In early January the Archdiocese gave them the okay to move in; using donated toys, books and furniture from local families, Fenlon, Joy and Newman set up the space and in one day and opened CommonSpace on January 28 to 40 families who’d already signed up.

“People were ready to jump on it,” Joy says.

“An extension of our living room”

CommonSpace spans two floors in the former convent. Downstairs are four playrooms: a main playroom, a baby and toddler room, a music room, and a games and arts room. Each looks a bit like an elementary school classroom, decorated with pastel shelves and bright colored rugs. On the second floor, there’s a space for adults to gather and chat during adults-only events. The space is geared towards children aged zero to 10 and their families.

“We’re not necessarily interior designers,” Fenlon says, but that doesn’t mean the space isn’t intentional; the trio focused on making it functional for families. There’s a side room with a toddler potty and diaper change supplies — including donated diapers — so parents don’t have to worry about forgetting to stock a baby bag before heading out. Members have access to a kitchen complete with high chairs and booster seats, so families even gather to share a meal. Every room has chairs and couches for parents to lounge on and chat while their children play. “We’re trying to make it as easeful as possible,” Fenlon says.

“One of the things I like best about it is that it’s no shoes,” says Sammy Lifson-Neubart, a member and mother to a five-year-old. “It makes it feel immediately like you’re in a living room. It makes everybody feel much more comfortable and cozy.”

They host events, like potlucks and children’s music classes, in the space, but often families just come to hangout. Dropping by is the founders’ ultimate goal. Caregivers come with their children, but many are able to relax and talk with one another, knowing the rooms are safe and filled with age-appropriate toys and games, plus the watchful eyes of other adults.

CommonSpace is open Wednesday through Friday from 4:30 to 7:30pm and weekends from 9am to 7:30pm.

“It’s basically become an extension of our living room,” says Anna Guarneri, a Mt. Airy Family Commons member and mom of three-year-old twins who goes to space twice a week.

“It’s a way to safely and comfortably gather without the pressures that come with hosting a big group in your own house or apartment. Toddlers can be pretty wild and destructive. It’s a space that’s built to hold them safely and comfortably, and they can run around and have age appropriate toys,” she continues. “It has kind of an informal community feel that reminds me of living in a group house, which I haven’t done since my early 20s.”

Families can join by signing up online and attending a short, in-person orientation to go over some guidelines. They use a three-tiered monthly membership model to ensure the space is both affordable and well-maintained: Sustaining Members pay $35 per month; Working Members pay $20 per month and work five hours of volunteer shifts to take care of the space; Community Members, aimed at folks for whom the other two options are untenable, allows families to pay what they can. Organizers say they see about an even distribution of men and women caregivers bringing children to the space — an encouraging observation since childrearing in general tends to disproportionately fall on women. Some of the CommonSpace dads are even a part of their own dad group.

“It’s kind of the perfect place to go when you don’t have a plan, especially in these winter months,” says Nell Bang-Jenson, a member and mother of a four- and two-year-old. “My husband jokes that we can’t go there anymore because we can’t get [the kids] to leave.”

Third spaces, all places

CommonSpace began as a pilot, set to end April 26. They hope to continue either onsite (pending a meeting with the leadership at Holy Cross). If that doesn’t work out, they’ll look for a new space. Success has happened elsewhere, but is not guaranteed.

Several parental support and children’s play organizations have popped up around Philly over the past few years. Brewerytown’s Kith+Kin offers a children’s playspace from birth till age five and parental support groups. Nest, a Center City Playspace with a similar promise, merged with Music Theater Philly’s Playhouse in 2024. East Falls’ Rutabaga Toy Library also hosts low-cost events for children and families.

CommonSpace is unique both because of its affordability (monthly memberships run $68 at Kith+Kin, $55 at Music Theater Philly, $65 at Rutabaga) and co-op model similar to the one used by Mt. Airy institutions like Weaver’s Way and the Mt. Airy Babysitting co-op. Members pay a fee to cover costs of keeping up the space; all help care for it and adhere to a shared set of values. There are no official employees. It’s a neighborhood vibe, really.

“Mt. Airy is really special,” Lifson-Neubart says. “It feels personal because it’s not some company that came in from outside of the neighborhood. It’s homegrown, and that’s what makes it work.”

Could this work elsewhere? Fenlon, Joy and Newman hope so. Not because they’re eager to expand — running one location is a lot of work — but because they see a larger need for family-oriented third spaces. Already, others have reached out from near and far to ask how they could re-recreate CommonSpace in their communities.

The trio say they’d be glad to show others how they did it. “I feel like we need to franchise it in terms of giving people the tools and encouragement,” Joy says.

For now, families are simply enjoying the opportunity to gather. Joy remembers chatting and ordering pizza with parents in late February. They’re working on adding some adults-only events, to help parents build friendships — which have formed organically, out of a mutual acknowledgement of a need for connection. Fenlon already feels like she’s becoming closer to neighbors she hadn’t met before.

“It feels easier to parent there than at a random drop-in space where I don’t know anybody,” Fenlon says.

“I’ve had so many conversations with strangers who are now friends. … It really reveals just how motivated folks are to be generous. We’re all benefiting from this socially and otherwise, and we are also all putting something in.”

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