Women's Care Cottage Receives Grant to Help Expand Programs for Los Angeles County Homeless Women and Families.

News/Lifestyle Editors

Initial $100,000 Will Fund Start Up Costs for New Respite Center

Women's Care Cottage (WCC), a non-profit organization committed to ending poverty and recurring homelessness among women and families in Los Angeles, has some welcome news -- a grant awarded by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to plan, design, build and operate a 24-hour respite center to serve this fast-growing homeless population, which now represents approximately 50 percent of the 230,000 homeless in L.A. County.

As the only organization of its kind in the San Fernando Valley, Women's Care Cottage will use the first $100,000 grant as seed money for planning and initial design for the Respite Center for Homeless Women and Families in Los Angeles County. The center will be a first-of-its-kind prototype for future facilities to meet the unique needs of homeless women and families and become an entry point into a larger system of housing and services. The respite center is expected to be operational by April 2004. Additional grant funding will be used for property acquisition, architectural design and construction and respite center operations.

"Women's Care Cottage has a proud 17-year history of helping homeless women and families move from extremely difficult conditions on the streets to long-term housing," said Casey Horan, executive director of Women's Care Cottage. "In 2001 alone, WCC helped more than 3,200 women and children transition from homelessness into long-term housing and supportive services. Thanks to the LAHSA, this grant will be used to draw thousands more women and families into a larger system of housing and services, and do so in the most compassionate and effective manner."

Since 1985, WCC has been helping women and families move off the streets permanently and live successful, independent lives in their own jobs, homes, schools and communities.

Operating three locations in North Hollywood, and the only such operation exclusively serving the needs of women and children in the San Fernando Valley, WCC provides transitional housing and shelter, psychological counseling, HIV testing/counseling, healthcare services, early childhood development resources and job training and placement. Its operational efficiency ensures that 91 cents of every dollar directly supports the services WCC provides.

"The fastest growing face of homelessness is women and families," said Mitchell Netburn of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. "This tragedy is one of the many reasons why we need to build this facility for those who are most vulnerable in our City. Once complete, there will be beds, showers, toilets, laundry facilities, hot meals, case management, housing placement, job training and placement, physical and mental health services, childcare and referral services all in a comfortable, non-institutional setting."

WCC is collaborating with the Los Angeles Community Design Center (LA/CDC) to provide planning, architectural design and construction management services for this project. The LA/CDC is a non-profit architecture, planning and real estate development firm which, since 1968, has served more than 500 community groups to build a variety of community-oriented projects. The Design Center's mission is to work with local residents, community groups and non-profit organizations to build individual and community assets, which promote self-determination and self-sufficiency, while fostering a sense of community.

"The Los Angeles Community Design Center is very pleased to have been selected as part of the development team for this much needed facility. We look forward to bringing our participatory and multi-disciplinary approach to provide a creative and responsible design solution for an inherently complex project. Our charge is to provide an attractive, well designed facility that fulfills the pragmatic needs of the homeless women and families, and reflects the dignified and compassionate philosophy of our client (WCC) in delivering services while building community consensus and acceptance," said Los Angeles Community Design Center Architectural Director, Ali Barar.

The respite center will be constructed at a yet-unidentified location in the city of Los Angeles and will be completed by March 2004.