Murdock Trust awards $500,000 to COCC’s ‘Growing Together’ campaign for Madras campus transformation

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On the heels of last month's groundbreaking ceremony, and with Kirby Nagelhout Construction Company contracted for the project, Central Oregon Community College’s Madras campus transformation has made another major stride with the announcement that the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust is awarding a $500,000 grant to COCC’s “Growing Together” capital campaign.

The grant supports the portion of the facility that will house COCC’s nursing, certified nursing assistant and medical assistant programs on the Madras campus.

The campus extension is helping bring a new training center and community child care to Jefferson County, with a grand opening anticipated by winter of 2025. The capital campaign is supporting COCC’s development of a 24,000-square-foot building designed for early childhood education programs, registered nurse and other health career pathways, and a 100-capacity child care center to serve the community. Learn more about the project and campaign at cocc.edu/growingtogether.

“This is a stunning investment in the communities and future of Jefferson County,” said Dr. Laurie Chesley, president of COCC. “‘Growing Together’ is truly a campaign centered on partnership, and we are immeasurably grateful to the Murdock Trust for theirs.”

The in-demand educational trainings and much-needed child care resources are expected to address significant community gaps for the growing rural area. A 2022 study from Portland State University estimates a “relatively robust” growth rate for Jefferson County, where a two-year waitlist for child care is not uncommon and recruiting health care workers has been a challenge.

The Oregon Employment Department projects that the health services and education sectors — which combine to make the third-largest employment category in Madras — are expected to surge by 26% between 2021-31 across Central Oregon.

Fundraising for the $22 million campaign — coming from both public and private sources — began in 2022.

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock in 1975, provides grants to organizations in five states of the Pacific Northwest — Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington — that seek to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.

For more information, contact Zak Boone, vice president of college advancement & executive director of the Foundation, at 541-383-7212 or zboone@cocc.edu.