Health & Wellness Hub offers services under one roof

Bailey’s Crossroads residents have a one-stop center for health and educational services for children and adults at a church in Bailey’s Crossroads.

The following organizations are providing free services at the Health & Wellness Hub established by the Place-Based Initiative (PBI), a project of George Mason University’s School of Public Health:

• Just Neighbors offers free legal counseling.

• The Women’s Center provides individual counseling and art therapy.

• The English Empowerment Center provides English literacy classes.

• Knowledge Seekers offers tutoring for children.

• Grace Ministries and the Capital Area Food Bank sponsor food giveaways.

• The Chris Atwood Foundation offers harm reduction services and distributes feminine hygiene products.

• The church is also hosting a temporary library, while the Culmore Community Library is closed through June 2027 for an HVAC upgrade. Books are available for checkout, along with story times for young children, English conversation classes, and other programs.

It’s more convenient for residents to have these services under the same roof, says PBI Project Manager Katie Wilson.

The PBI is a coalition of nonprofits and community-serving organizations. Programs are based on needs identified by community members. At a listening session in 2024, Bailey’s Crossroads residents said they wanted better access to healthcare, safe places for children and teens after school, and improved safety in the community.

Related story: Healthcare, education, safety initiatives in the works for Culmore

Wilson is working with the family liaisons at local schools to establish a parent academy at the Health & Wellness Hub. She envisions that effort as providing information to parents on such issues as how to navigate the school system, how to get bus passes for students, and how to be involved in their children’s education.

Future plans under consideration call for using the church’s kitchen for cooking lessons – to teach residents about nutrition, to have them teach their peers recipes from their home countries, and possibly train residents to become certified for restaurant jobs.

The Health & Wellness Hub is funded by the GMU School of Public Health. The Culmore Church provides the space at no charge.

Related story: The Chris Atwood Foundation helps people struggling with substance abuse