The Future Home of Well Baby Center Is Coming Soon…

After more than a decade of service to low and middle-income families, we are expanding our mission to include helping the most vulnerable families living in our city. Well Baby Center and Venice Community Housing Corp. have partnered to create a world-class pilot project to provide permanent supportive housing, including onsite clinical and parenting services, all at no cost to the families living there.

This child-friendly, community-based living arrangement will provide permanent housing and supportive services for approximately 20 resident women and children. Marian Place will be the model for other integrated, holistic affordable housing projects that will be replicated throughout Los Angeles.

Having a passion both for conserving Los Angeles’s historic courtyard bungalows and the repurposing of these iconic properties into healing living spaces, Well Baby Center’s founder and CEO, Dr. Deborah Groening-Rother, donated the Marian Place property to Venice Community Housing Corporation. Dr. Groening-Rother believes that families who have experienced homelessness, domestic violence, and other life challenges need a special healing environment to achieve recovery and gain resilience. Venice Community Housing will manage the property, while Well Baby Center will provide parenting and counseling services for the residents, and to the public as well. Renovations for Marian Place began in early 2021 and will be completed by early 2023.

The Well Baby Center Story

Well Baby Center practices a preventative model of care, which means that social support and a nurturing community are just as vital as receiving counseling. This project is just one of many necessary steps in addressing an enormous crisis, but it is a meaningful solution for some of the mothers and children who are most vulnerable. By joining forces with Venice Community Housing—along with other community-based organizations—we envision creating a more holistic approach to healing and prospering for these young families. Marian Place Home will be housing nine formerly homeless families with young children, in a way that will be integrated with the surrounding neighborhood, create a sense of community for the residents, and will preserve the character and scale of this vintage property. Providing opportunities for social support is an important factor in healing and growing resilience for families with housing and other needs.