Heart of Oregon Corps celebrates groundbreaking of new Redmond campus

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- On Tuesday, gold shovels broke ground for the new campus of a youth workforce program. The Heart of Oregon Corps is an alternative education program focused on trade skills. Youth Corps members receive job training in areas like construction by completing volunteer projects in the community. Now it’s building a 6,000-square-foot campus, uniting all its programs across Central Oregon and providing a place for classes. For 25 years, the Heart of Oregon Corps has made Central Oregon a better place.

Laura Handy, Executive Director of Heart of Oregon Corps, told KTVZ News: “Heart of Oregon has just made such a mark on this community. Everywhere I go in this community, whether it’s in towns or out on our trails or in our forests, you can see the impact of the projects that the young people do. They’re doing projects to build affordable housing, to reduce wildfire risk, to protect our habitats and ecosystems. And we just started a new program in Madras where they’re helping with food insecurity at the community food pantry.”

The campus is expected to be completed next summer, with a ribbon-cutting in the fall. However, more work remains. The program still needs to raise more than a million dollars to finish the building. Right now, a fund-matching program is doubling any donation to the Heart of Oregon Corps.