13 Mar, 2026
Downstairs from Nightingale Marrickville, Fresh Hope Communities’ affordable housing community, there was a hum of activity as the team behind Baba’s Place in Marrickville, opened the long-awaited SIT café.
Nightingale Marrickville was intentionally built with community activation spaces on street-level—designed for connection and gathering, with the understanding that community engagement is core to people developing a sense of belonging and home.
For Stephanie Obiri-Asare, Fresh Hope Communities’ Head of Community Partnerships, this opening is a culmination of four years for painstaking and thoughtful work—both in the community and in cultivating relationship with the Baba’s crew.
She shares, “In 2022 I was spending time getting to know business owners and community members in Marrickville and was introduced to Alex [Kelly] through a mutual friend who said he deeply cared about the local community and wanted to give back.
At the beginning, it was not about a café at all. Alex was part of a small group helping me understand the patterns, needs and dynamics of Marrickville. We spent months talking about the community, what people were experiencing, and what it would look like to contribute something meaningful rather than transactional.
Over time, it became clear there was an opportunity to align what Baba’s already did so well with a space intentionally set aside for community development. Conversations slowly evolved into a shared vision for a space that could bring people together around food, culture and connection.”
Rather than pursuing a joint venture model, the decision was made to place the social enterprise fully in Baba’s capable and seasoned hands. Fresh Hope Communities remains committed to stewarding the space and ensure it remains community facing in intent and purpose.
Walking into SIT for the soft launch on a weekday morning, there was much to love instantly. Thought and intention has gone into everything—from the terracotta and powder blue colour palette to unique art pieces, and repurposed plastic turned benches and tables, all aesthetically pleasing and with nods to Baba’s signature storytelling and cultural background through style and design.
With write ups from the likes of Broadsheet Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, and foodie influencers, the food on offer has been praised aplenty (get the pancakes!). But what was most evident was the familial atmosphere; faces breaking into smiles and walking into warm welcomes from family, friends or the Baba’s team, people settling into deep conversations, others in the amphitheatre-styled seating buried in work, coffee in hand, and the pure delight on faces as they tuck into a menu curated for wholesome enjoyment.
It’s like the feeling you get when you come home.
Congratulations to all involved in bringing this to the heart of the Marrickville community.
SIT is located at 387 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville.