Heart of Oregon Corps recently announced a $100,000 gift from The Tykeson Family Foundation in support of the Legacy 25 campaign to raise the remaining dollars for a new $7.3 million Heart of Oregon Corps centralized campus in Redmond. The 3.4-acre site will be Central Oregon’s first youth workforce development campus.
“We are proud to support this impactful resource for Central Oregon,” said Amy Tykeson, managing trustee of the Tykeson Family Foundation and former CEO of BendBroadband. “Education takes many forms, and youth on the workforce track will flourish with a place to learn, grow and belong as they develop the skills to transform their own lives and contribute to the economic success of our communities.”
In the past 25 years, Heart of Oregon has graduated more than 5,000 workforce-ready Central Oregon youth, focusing on fields of construction, conservation and childcare. Throughout the past two and a half decades, Heart of Oregon has done this work using a network of borrowed and aging facilities, which can no longer accommodate the 225 youth being served by the program each year.
“We are so grateful to Amy Tykeson and the Foundation for their generous support,” said Laura Handy, executive director of Heart of Oregon. “Donations like this are how we will address the growing need for youth workforce-readiness training in Central Oregon and provide crucial support for the next generation of youth and young adults — for the benefit of us all.”
In Heart of Oregon’s 25th year, the Legacy 25 campaign was launched to raise the remaining dollars necessary to construct the new central campus in Redmond, which will serve youth from across Central Oregon. Heart of Oregon has just $2.1 million left to raise, and a generous $500,000 match provided by Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund is currently doubling all contributions of $100,000 and below.
The Tykeson Family Foundation gift comes as Heart of Oregon releases a new Legacy 25 campaign website where visitors can learn about the need for a youth workforce development campus in Redmond and make contributions of their own to the legacy project, which will shape youth in Central Oregon for generations to come.
Heart of Oregon will break ground on the new campus on September 10, with the opening of the campus anticipated in fall 2026. Community members and the media are encouraged to attend the groundbreaking and see the future campus site, enjoy a simple lunch grilled by R&H Construction, and connect with other workforce development supporters. Click here to RSVP for the event.
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!
