(Jefferson County youth attend a gardening camp during COCC’s 2023 Youth Camps | Photo courtesy of COCC)
More than 200 rural youth — from Redmond, Madras and Prineville — will receive free or partially paid access to 20 of Central Oregon Community College’s (COCC) summer Youth Camps held throughout the district, thanks to a recently awarded $30,000 grant from the Roundhouse Foundation. Funds will pay for camp operating costs, such as instructors, equipment and transportation fees, in order to provide the fun, hands-on learning programs at low- or no-cost to rural students.
The Youth Camps, designed for ages 10-15 and held at all four of the college’s campuses, begin later this month and continue through August. For more information, visit cocc.edu/youth.
“This grant will enhance the lives of these students, giving them the ability to participate in camps they otherwise would not have been able to,” said Stephanie Goetsch, director of community education at COCC. “It allows us to grow the number of camps and types of camps offered, giving underserved students the sense and feeling of empowerment that they can attend college, and can even do it on a campus in their own community.”
COCC summer Youth Camps being offered in these rural areas will include subjects such as computer coding, STEM technology, dancing, writing, culinary, gardening, visual art, photography and a theater arts camp that will put on a community production of the Wizard of Oz in Madras.
The Roundhouse Foundation is a private family foundation based in Sisters that supports creative solutions to the unique challenges associated with rural culture and the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit roundhousefoundation.org.
For more information on the grant, contact Zak Boone, COCC’s chief advancement officer and executive director of the COCC Foundation, at zboone@cocc.edu or 541-383-7212.
