Lancaster Day Care Center (LDCC) provides high quality, affordable child care and educational experiences for children 8 weeks old to kindergarten age. Our target population includes low income working families. We also serve the homeless population and children in need of protective care. LDCC currently serves 102 children daily and actively manages a waiting list of families in need of services.

LDCC was established in 1915 (then known as Lancaster Day Nursery) by a group of women who identified the need to take care of the children of immigrant parents who needed to work outside the home. Some would say, “We’ve been doing child care since before child care was popular.” Over our 90+ year history, the demographics and circumstances of the parents have changed radically, but the need for affordable child care has not. Most of the families whose children are enrolled in our program cannot afford the cost of child care. This lack of child care prevents them from gainful employment, completion of their education and jeopardizes their child’s development, as they are often not in “learning rich” environments.

We attribute much of our success to our committed, highly educated employees. Our average employee tenure is nine years as opposed to a national average of nine months. Nearly all of our employees are currently pursuing an advanced degree in child development. The Center is proud to financially support them in this endeavor because we believe that higher education will advance the level of care we can provide. Our small class sizes enable us to offer individualized and developmentally appropriate care for our children. Our voluntary involvement in the Keystone STARS quality child care initiative guarantees that our children receive the highest quality of early care and education which research shows will help them be more successful in school and life.

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