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Gather & Grow Food Hub

"Connecting communities, nourishing traditions, growing a resilient food future."

Keeping food local

The Gather & Grow Food Hub is a 15,000 sq. ft. regional facility serving Del Norte County and Tribal Lands led by the Del Norte Healthcare District in partnership with the Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council. The project will increase healthy food access, support local agriculture, and provide shared infrastructure for food aggregation, distribution, education, workforce development, and emergency food resilience.

Key features include warehouse and cold/dry storage, emergency food supply storage, commercial kitchens, education and workforce training space, local food retail market, and community gathering space. The hub will serve local institutions, small farms, and the broader community, integrating food access, nutrition, and economic development.

  • The food hub is expected to support 25–40 regional farms and producers, creating new opportunities for small and mid-scale agricultural businesses to expand their markets and stabilize income. In addition, the shared commercial kitchen will provide space for new value-added food businesses, allowing farmers and food entrepreneurs to develop and sell products such as preserved foods, prepared meals, and packaged goods.

  • The food hub will enable greater local procurement by regional institutions, including school districts, healthcare providers, Tribal nutrition programs, and emergency food systems. By creating the infrastructure needed to aggregate, store, and distribute locally produced food, the hub will make it easier for institutions to purchase directly from regional farms.

  • The Gather & Grow Food Hub is supported by a diversified mix of grants, capital contributions, loan financing, and earned revenue to fully cover construction, equipment, and operations. Core capital support includes $2,000,000 plus 1.7 acres contributed by the Del Norte Healthcare District, supplemented by a ~$2,000,000 CDFA Farm to Community Food Hub Grant for construction and operations, and a ~$250,000 Healthy Food Financing Initiative award for retail market buildout. Predevelopment and planning support includes $350,000 from California Jobs First Catalyst funding and $158,566 from the CDFA Resilient Infrastructure Grant which enabled early-stage design, feasibility, and regional coordination.

Primary Goals:

  • Values Based Procurement & Marketing

    • Direct purchase from local & regional small farms

    • Aggregation and distribution to institutions and local markets

    • Sharing markets and distributions with regional food hubs

  • Increase Community Food Access

    • Farm to School & Early Care Education

    • Food Banks & Pantries

    • Emergency Storage and Distribution

    • CSA/Harvest Box

    • Onsite Market & Small Rural Grocers

    • Food as Medicine (Prescription food dollars and meals)

  • Infrastructure Support for Rural Businesses

    • Cold/dry storage, wash & pack facilities, processing/packaging, loading dock

    • Retail food market (accepting SNAP/WIC/Rx food)

    • Commercial & teaching kitchens for training and incubation

    • Shared Delivery 

    • Market development and access

    • Food Safety

04.01.2026 RFQ Invitation Update: Architectural & Engineering Services – Gather & Grow Food Hub (Crescent City, CA)

The Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council (DNATL CFC) invites qualified firms to submit a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) in response to our Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Architectural and Engineering services for the Gather & Grow Food Hub Project in Crescent City, California.

The Gather & Grow Food Hub is a planned 15,000 square foot regional food hub facility that will provide aggregation, cold storage, light processing, and distribution infrastructure to support farmers, Tribal food sovereignty initiatives, institutional buyers, and community food access across the North Coast region.

We are seeking an experienced Architectural and Engineering team to provide planning, design, permitting coordination, and construction documentation services to bring the project through final design and public construction bidding.

The project has completed concept design and is currently in the final stages of predevelopment, with county use permit review underway. DNATL CFC anticipates moving into the Construction Documents phase in 2026, with construction anticipated to begin in 2027. For more information on our organization and project you can visit: https://www.dnatlfoodcouncil.org/programs

RFQ Release Date: March 16, 2026

Updated RFQ: April 1, 2026 Added more specific Scope of Work, Estimated Fees, Updated Submission Deadline, Response to Questions, Additional resources provided. 

SOQ Submission Deadline: Monday April 6, 2026 (Midnight Pacific Time) Added an extra day.

Firms interested in responding should review the Updated RFQ and submit materials through the RFQ submission form linked below. If you experience difficulty uploading files through the form, documents may also be submitted via email.

Submission Form: DNATL CFC Gather and Grow Food Hub SOQ Submission Form Link

RFQ Contact:Andrea Lanctot, Executive Director, Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council, andrea@dnatlfoodcouncil.org

We encourage submissions from firms with experience in food hubs, cold storage facilities, agricultural infrastructure, or similar community-based food system projects.

Thank you for your interest in supporting the development of regional food infrastructure on the North Coast. We look forward to learning more about your firm.