Jenkintown Day Nursery Establishes New Relationship with Play & Learn Centers

November 4, 2015, Fort Washington, PA – Two area non-for-profit organizations, the Jenkintown Day Nursery (JDN) and Play & Learn (P&L) of Fort Washington, have formed an association to serve the early educational needs of young children. In addition, a new not-for-profit organization, The Jenkintown Day Nursery Foundation, will provide funding and scholarships for area children.

As early as 1903, Mrs. Theodore B. Culver of Jenkintown discovered that children were being left in a barn while their mothers went to work. Surmising that there were other mothers in similar situations, Mrs. Culver took action to find a safe place for the children and the volunteers to look after them. On March 4, 1903, the Jenkintown Day Nursery opened its doors to six children from 6:30am-7:30pm, six days a week. The parents were charged six cents per day for care.

Since then, the mission of Jenkintown Day Nursery remained the same. With the application of a sliding fee scale and the availability of scholarships, Jenkintown Day Nursery has been able to offer quality early education to many families through scholarships. The JDN Board of Directors provided modern and safe facilities at Baeder and Hilltop Roads in Abington Township. Now the former volunteer directors of JDN will focus their efforts to raising funds and offering scholarships through their new Jenkintown Day Nursery Foundation (JDNF).

Continuing to be known as Jenkintown Day Nursery, the program will operate under the leadership of
Play & Learn. “We welcome the opportunity to have Jenkintown Day Nursery be part of the Play & Learn family. We admire Jenkintown Day Nursery’s long tradition of excellence in education and their dedication to make quality early education available to children” remarked Judith Cooper, Play & Learn Executive Director.

Play & Learn is a regional not-for-profit, early education and care organization also governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. Play & Learn has a long tradition of service to the Greater Delaware Valley. Established in 1981 by early educators and child psychologists, the organization has grown to eleven centers. After a national search, Play & Learn was selected in 2003 to establish and manage the Gerstadt Center, Abington Memorial Hospitals’ child care center for hospital employees and the community. Play & Learn serves 1,200 children at centers in Abington, Hatboro, Fort Washington, Blue Bell, Bryn Mawr, Ardmore, Norristown, Collegeville, Lansdale, Royersford and Green Lane.

In the future, Jenkintown Day Nursery Foundation (JDNF) intends to raise and distribute funds to Jenkintown Day Nursery families in need and will also assist Play & Learn families facing financial difficulty. Play & Learn established its own Granny Scholarship Fund in 1988 to assist families facing financial hardships. To date, the Granny Scholarship Fund has provided assistance to nearly 4,000 families. Additionally, in 2013, Play & Learn obtained 45 Pre-K Counts program slots, allowing families at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, access to free quality early education.

According to W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, “well-designed preschool education programs produce long-term improvements in school success, including higher achievement test scores, lower rates of grade repetition and special education and higher educational attainment.”

Jenkintown day Nursery and Play & Learn recognize the importance of having quality early education available for all children. Together with the Jenkintown Day Nursery Foundation, they will strive to ensure that more children have the opportunity to receive a quality early education. Questions about this partnership can be addressed by contacting Judith Cooper, Play & Learn Executive Director at jcooper@playandlearn.com or Nancy Deibert, Chair of Jenkintown Day Nursery Foundation Board at jenkintowndaynurseryfoundation@gmail.com.