A Third Space for Families Makes a Strong Start

by Karen Plourde, Editor, Weavers Way Shuttle

April 3, 2026

A member-supported communal space in East Mt. Airy for families with young children to gather and use three nights a week and on weekends is approaching its three-month anniversary in hopes that it will continue to evolve, gain members and become self-supporting.

Mt. Airy Family Commons, located in the former convent of Holy Cross Catholic Church, opened its doors on Jan. 28 and has seen a steady stream of families using the space during the week and on weekends ever since. As of late March, they had about 95 member families.

The group started out as a business plan written by Hannah Fenlon, one of the group’s organizers and the mother of a three year old, four years ago. Last year, another organizer, Hannah Kohler, emailed friends about her frustrations with the re-election of Donald Trump and the erosion of the way people gathered prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the email, she included a survey on how parents of young children could organize a project for a shared space and asked if recipients could forward the email to three like-minded friends.

Bolstered by “a ton” of responses supporting the idea, Fenlon, Kohler and a third volunteer, Linda Joy, all of whom reside in Mt. Airy, started planning events to meet other families and talk about the idea and what they’d like to see. The trio also joined the Philly iHub program, coordinated by Mt. Airy Community Development Corporation, so they could turn their proposal into an action plan.

While doing their research, Fenlon, Kohler and Joy realized that churches often have real estate that’s underutilized, so they started cold emailing them. Kohler had a friend who was involved in a similar program, Family Room in Melrose, MA, that has operated out of multiple churches since the 1980s. As it turned out, the secretary at Holy Cross, who’s also a mom and is strongly oriented to the community, became an advocate for the group. 

When the trio toured the convent, they were surprised at the size of the building and what good shape it was in.

“We had no idea they had a building of that stature standing empty on their campus,” said Kohler.  “It’s right next to all of us, we go by it all the time, and I just assumed it was active.”

The three-story building was in pristine condition on the second and third floors. The first floor is “enormous”, according to Kohler.

“We’ve got this giant hallway, we’ve got four separate spaces for kids to play in, and a kitchen that’s huge, so we can put multiple families in there — cooking, sharing food, et cetera,” she said.

In addition, a common space on the second floor has been designated as “adults only.”

Kohler believes that the group and Holy Cross are philosophically in tune with what they want the space to be.

“They of course value us building community and building relationships between families,” she said. “There’s a number of parishioners who are part of the church who are young families who are in our membership.” 

How It’s Going So Far

Fenlon finds that she’s at the space more than she needs to be, and is often heartened by what she sees while there — families making dinner for themselves and even informally sharing food with other families.

“The other night, someone was making pork chops…it smelled amazing,” she said. “They made this entire well-rounded meal in our kitchen, sat around the table and their kids could just pop in and out and the adults could have a conversation and actually speak to one another and enjoy without being in a restaurant, where they might be asked to be quiet or to stay in their seats.”

She thinks member families may see CommonSpace as more than an escape from their houses.

 “It’s almost as if people are living their regular kind of lives, but just in a third space location, where they’re able to access their friends and their neighbors without making a huge fuss,” she said. “We all live close enough that we can kind of just grab a couple things and head over to the common space, and if you forget something, you’re right around the corner.”

There are three tiers of membership at Commonspace, all of which offer the same level of access: sustaining ($35/month), working ($20/month, with five hours of shifts per month required, and community (pay what you can). The community membership is geared toward those who are on the SNAP program or are facing financial hardship. 

“Other pay-to-play spaces in the community really struggle with keeping costs low, because they’re in commercial spaces where the rent is high,” Kohler said. “That’s understandable, but it doesn’t create a ton of socioeconomic and racial diversity within the group.”

Taking the Reins

Another pleasant surprise the organizers have noticed since CommonSpace opened is the willingness of members to help improve or maintain it. One member jerryrigged a metal babygate for a nonstandard stairway; another, a former HVAC technician, worked with the parish maintenance director on the heating system to get heat to the second floor of the building. 

Down the road, Fenlon and Kohler would like to see memberships, fundraising and fees for classes and other activities cover their costs. 

“Everyone is putting so much time and investment into the space that we would all love to see it grow and thrive and get better and better where we are,” Fenlon said. “But it’ll depend on those other pieces and of course, keeping that relationship strong with Holy Cross.

“We’re kind of making this little place where there is so much aid going on, there is so much mutual support happening. We’re already talking about doing so many more community events and things later on to feed into that,” she said. “We’re talking about doing clothing swaps, we’re talking about having food in the pantry that you can just help yourself to, and it’s suddenly become very cooperative in nature — not just in the way that we take care of the space, but in the way that people give so freely from their own homes. It’s all been put together through donations so far. That’s been my ‘why’; like why do I put so much time into this?”

For more information on Mt. Airy Family Commons, including how to join or donate, go to mtairyfamily.org.