As a local conservation corps, Heart of Oregon Corps is a community asset that increases and protects the vitality of our local communities. Heart of Oregon youth crews work daily, year-round across the tri-county area to improve our recreational sites and habitats, reduce wildfire risk and build affordable housing. Heart of Oregon’s programs are also a potential source of resiliency in the face of emergencies and disasters.
Heart of Oregon Corps is raising the final $2.2M of the $7.3M needed to build its new Central Campus, a youth workforce training hub that supports our local youth on the workforce pathway to thrive. The project is breaking ground this September 2025.
In addition to the main project budget, Heart of Oregon is seeking to add solar power, battery backup power storage and EV charging to the campus. During early design surveys, Heart of Oregon participants and alumni selected green building and renewable energy as one of their priorities for the campus design. This renewable system on campus would add to hands-on trades pre-apprenticeship training that youth complete on campus. These additions would not only save over $320,000 over the life of the solar panels, but also enable the campus to remain operational during power outages that can come during disasters.
If disaster strikes our communities or state, and it impacts Central Oregon, Heart of Oregon Corps youth and young adult crews can be deployed to help right here at home. This could be as simple as helping other nonprofits with snow and ice removal in major snow events. But this could be as complex as joining a large coordinated disaster response effort to help where it’s needed most, clearing fallen tree debris, setting up shelters, supporting fire camps, managing logistics, or distributing supplies and food directly to people impacted by disaster.
The future Heart of Oregon Redmond campus will be strategically located near a hub of critical sites that support regional disaster response, such as the Redmond Airport, the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, CORE3 and the local NeighborImpact food bank. If able to remain operational during power outages, the Heart of Oregon campus could serve as a valuable asset within this broader network, potentially offering space for volunteer coordination, supply donations, or youth crew involvement in response or recovery efforts.
Adding renewal energy resiliency capacity to the campus will cost approximately $350,000 more than its current $7.3M budget. To meet this need, COIC is partnering with Heart of Oregon Corps, with support from the City of Redmond, to apply to the Oregon Department of Energy’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program (OA #25-045) to fully fund adding solar power, battery storage and EV charging to the new campus.
COIC and Heart of Oregon are seeking community input on their joint grant application, and Heart of Oregon’s plans to be a part of the region’s disaster resiliency resources. To give input, please email info@heartoforegon.org and include “disaster resiliency” in the subject line.
About Heart of Oregon Corps:
Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth and young adults through employment, job training, education and service to Central Oregon communities. With the goal of career readiness, HOC hires and trains 225 youth ages 16-24 annually in the fields of conservation, construction and childcare. Accredited by the Corps Center for Excellence, HOC is committed to training tomorrow’s workforce today and is accepting youth applications now! For more information or to apply, visit heartoforegon.org.
