Heart of Oregon Corps closes on Redmond site, asks city for public endorsement

Heart of Oregon Corps has purchased a 3.4-acre site in Redmond for a proposed central campus and asked the Redmond City Council for a public endorsement as it seeks final funding and city approvals.

The organization’s executive director, Laura Handy, told the council the purchase closed March 14 and that the campus is part of a $7,300,000 project. "Starting this fall, this fall 2025, we will construct a 6,600 square foot campus center with space to teach, meet, work, and a new courtyard," Handy said. She also told council staff and members the group has raised about 65% of the project budget and still needs about $2,500,000.

The project will keep an existing 14,000-square-foot training warehouse and add covered equipment bays for vehicles and chippers, training spaces and a courtyard, Handy said. She told the council a previously awarded $1,500,000 federal urban and community forestry grant was canceled by the federal government and that Heart of Oregon Corps is seeking alternate funding and partnerships with the city and others to continue momentum on local programs.

Heart of Oregon Corps said roughly one-quarter of its annual participants live in Redmond, and the campus is intended to provide year-round facilities for workforce training, certification and youth support services. Handy said a matching challenge grant will double private gifts of $100,000 and below up to $500,000 and asked the council for a non-financial endorsement and, if councilors wished, personal signatures in support.

Councilors responded positively in the meeting. A council speaker urged formal consideration at an upcoming meeting: "So we will take that up at the next meeting," the speaker said, indicating the request would be placed on a future agenda. City staff were described in the presentation as having worked on the partition and sale process; Handy said the site plan has been submitted to the city and was pending staff review and approval.

No formal endorsement vote was recorded in the meeting minutes or the transcript; the council agreed to consider the endorsement at a later meeting. The presentation included a funding status, schedule assumptions and project scope, and councilors and staff asked questions about next steps and community impacts.

If the council places the endorsement on a future agenda or takes formal action, staff said the city’s role would be limited to a public endorsement unless a separate funding or permitting action is proposed and approved.

Details provided by the presenter and in council discussion are included below in clarifying details and provenance.