Dragonfly Cafe offers career development opportunities, catering services

Over the past several months, residents of Quincy have observed the gradual transformation of 591 Main St., the former home of Pangea, taking note as construction materials arrived, and brilliant blue paint appeared on the facade. Now, the work is complete.

The newly renovated space is home to the Dragonfly Cafe, a combination teaching kitchen and catering service owned and operated by the nonprofit Plumas Crisis Intervention and Resource Center. The new facility aims to provide professional training to PCIRC clients, and meals to residents of PCIRC’s newly opened Northstar Navigation Center and food pantry programs. It will also cater and host special events. All proceeds earned go to support PCIRC programs.

County’s first homeless shelter

The Northstar Navigation Center is Plumas County’s first homeless shelter, with space for 27 residents. Its approach differs from traditional shelters in several key ways, said the organization’s executive director Kate Rahmeyer. Rather than providing shelter for a night or two, the center is designed for longer stays of 12-20 weeks. 

The idea is to address clients’ essential need for safe and stable shelter, building upon that foundation to provide additional customized support, including therapy, substance use treatment and career development and skills training. “I don’t think just giving people a place to sleep is enough,” Rahmeyer said.

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“I don’t think just giving people a place to sleep is enough.”

Kate Rahmeyer, Plumas Crisis Intervention and Resource Center executive director

The culinary training program at the Dragonfly Cafe’s certified training kitchen is just one of several job training programs available through a partnership with Feather River College. Other options include wildfire fighting, construction, and administrative training. 

The culinary course will be led by Chef Sean Conry, an FRC instructor and former executive chef at Longboards.

In addition to culinary skills, the course will address the practical aspects of the restaurant business, such as budgeting, ordering and bookkeeping. More general work placement courses are also available through the PCIRC, including resume writing, interview training and personal finance.

The 12-week culinary program is designed to be flexible. Participants must complete all 12 weeks to receive a certificate, but can enter the program at any point, Rahmeyer explained. The first cycle is planned for early 2025; once it’s complete, Rahmeyer hopes to evaluate the feasibility of having regular public business hours at the cafe.

Responding to community needs

The mission of the PCIRC is to function as a safety net provider of countywide services that offer individuals and families the opportunity to live “to their own potential and be treated with dignity and respect,” according to its website. It’s a broad and flexible mandate that allows the organization to respond to the community’s changing needs, said Rahmeyer, citing COVID and the Dixie Fire as examples.

Rahmeyer has been involved with the organization for most of its 40-year history. She has worked there since the age of 10, when she accompanied her mother, Cathay Rahmeyer, the organization’s director of operations,  

People think we don’t have a lot of homelessness in Plumas County, Rahmeyer said, but that’s untrue. They may be less visible because they camp in the woods, rather than on the sidewalks, but “there are clients we are helping that I grew up with,” she said.

The past several months have seen increasing demand for services, especially food support. In Portola alone, 91 new individuals signed up for the food pantry in October, and 46 in November. Rahmeyer attributes the rise to increased costs across the board, including rent, groceries and utilities. If people can get at least a little relief in one of those areas it helps, she said.

Well-tested business model

The Quincy program uses a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development model that prioritizes housing first, which has been shown to be effective in promoting housing stability, improving health outcomes and reducing the use of higher-cost municipal services like emergency room visits and jails.

Restaurants affiliated with recovery and rehabilitation programs aren’t new. San Francisco’s Delancy Street Restaurant, operated as part of the Delancy Street Foundation’s residential treatment program, was founded in 1991. FareStart in Seattle has offered 16-week culinary job training to homeless and at-risk people since 1992. Michelin-star chef Adam Simmonds recently opened a London fine dining establishment staffed by people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

As a nonprofit organization, PCIRC is supported by grants and donations. Fiscal sustainability is a top priority, said Rahmeyer. Her goal is for the organization to remain debt-free. All properties are owned outright, rather than leased, and any development is fully funded by grants and donations, not loans.

“I think it will be the key to our success,” Raymeyer said.

Today, the organization has 12 full-time staff members in Quincy and Portola, plus about a dozen part-time safety officers providing security at the navigation center. And Raymeyer has big plans for the future. The navigation center sits on a large parcel, the former site of the downtown trailer park, which burned in 2021. The organization aims to build a village of 26 cabins, raising the housing capability of the center to 75. The project is already partially funded, and Rahmeyer hopes to complete construction within about two years.

The nonprofit has plenty of volunteer opportunities available, especially at food banks in Quincy and Portola, where shipments must be unloaded, organized and transported. Those interested in getting involved are encouraged to contact Rahmeyer at [email protected].