$3.5 Million Investment Could Bring New Food And Health Hubs To Tucson Neighborhood

TUCSON, AZ — Tucson is inviting organizations to help fill a gap in food and health services in one of the city's most historically underserved neighborhoods, and it's putting up $3.5 million to make it happen.

The funding is tied to the city's $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant and targets the Thrive in the 05 area, a stretch north of downtown roughly bounded by Interstate 10, Speedway Boulevard, Stone Avenue and Miracle Mile.

The neighborhood has seen decades of disinvestment, and the city has been working since 2018 to change that trajectory.

The city isn't looking to run the facilities itself. Instead, it wants to invest in building or renovating the physical spaces and equipping them, then hand operations over to qualified organizations — nonprofits, health care providers, developers or community groups — who can keep them running long term.

Proposals can cover three types of facilities.

A Community Food Hub could include a kitchen incubator, culinary training, food entrepreneurship programs, emergency meal distribution or a neighborhood market or cafe.

A Health Station could offer primary care navigation, behavioral health services, health screenings or wellness programming. The city is also open to proposals for neighborhood-serving retail and community services.

The $3.5 million can be used for renovation, equipment, interior and exterior improvements, green infrastructure and signage, but cannot cover ongoing operations.

Organizations applying will need to show they have a sustainable funding plan to keep services running after the city's investment is spent.

The grant is already supporting other changes in the area, including renovation of 358 affordable housing units for older adults at Tucson House and new mixed-income developments at Sugar Hill on Stone, Amazon Flats and Stone and Speedway.

Organizations interested in applying can attend a virtual pre-proposal conference on Zoom from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on June 5.

Proposals are due by 5 p.m. on July 15, submitted as PDF files to Denisse Ortega-Loroña at denisse.ortega-lorona@tucsonaz.gov.

Selections are expected in August.