Avalon Health Access and Resilience Center will offer emergency shelter, cooling spaces, workforce training, and year-round community resources in partnership with California state programs.

St. John’s Community Health has announced plans to construct a new Community Resilience Center in South Los Angeles, expanding its capacity to serve residents during climate-related and public health emergencies. The facility will be located adjacent to their Avalon Clinic and will be named the Avalon Health Access and Resilience Center.

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The center will serve as a dedicated hub where residents can gather, access resources, and organize during crises such as heatwaves, wildfires, and earthquakes. Planned features include indoor and outdoor cooling spaces, temporary shelter, showers, and meal service for individuals in need.

The center will also offer recreational space, workforce training focused on wellness and job readiness, and educational programs to help residents prepare for emergencies. Its proximity to the Avalon Clinic will provide visitors with direct access to medical care, behavioral health services, and a broad range of social support programs.

Community engagement has been central to the project’s planning process. In June 2025, St. John’s Community Health held three public meetings to present the concept and gather feedback from South Los Angeles residents. The response was overwhelmingly positive, underscoring the need for these services in the community. Feedback from these meetings is publicly available on their website as well.

The Avalon Health Access and Resilience Center is being developed with funding from the California Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities Program, in partnership with the California Department of Conservation. The TCC funds community-led development and infrastructure projects that achieve major environmental, health, and economic benefits in California’s most disadvantaged communities. For more information, visit https://sgc.ca.gov/grant-programs/tcc/.

Founded in 1964 as a one-room pediatric clinic, St. John’s Community Health has grown into one of the largest non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center networks in the region. Today, it operates more than 23 locations across Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, including standalone clinics, mobile units, school-based health and wellness centers, and facilities in public housing communities. The organization delivers medical, dental, behavioral health, substance use treatment, and supportive services while addressing the social determinants of health through strong partnerships and community outreach.

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