KCC launches Build the Basin 2022 campaign to complete Apprenticeship Center

Construction of the Apprenticeship Center at Klamath Community College has been underway since November, slated to open in 2023 providing technical skills career training. (submitted photo)

Article by Kurt Leidtke, public information officer, Klamath Community College.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - With construction on schedule to open in 2023, Klamath Community College’s Apprenticeship Center will provide new technical career skills programs intended to create new careers in the Klamath Basin and beyond – but community help is still needed to complete the project.

The KCC Foundation has launched “Build the Basin 2022” – a community-focused fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $300,000 this year towards the Apprenticeship Center. As a 501c3 nonprofit, donations made towards the cause are tax-deductible, with additional legacy naming rights opportunities also available.

Current workforce predictions estimate 2,400 construction and manufacturing-related jobs will be needed in the East Cascades region alone over the next decade, and upwards of 21,800 in Oregon. Additional emergency services needs are over 1,400 regionally and 19,200 statewide.

To address this need, the KCC Apprenticeship Center will provide a state-of-the-art training center for four-year apprenticeship programs, two-year degrees, and one-year certifications related to construction skills, fire and emergency response, law enforcement, commercial truck driving, and heavy equipment training.

Construction trades to be offered upon completion of the Apprenticeship Center include electrical, plumbing, millwright, carpentry, cement mason, drywall, interior/exterior specialist, painting, and construction basics. Manufacturing trades to be offered include engineering technology, manufacturing engineering, and computer-aided design careers. Additional facilities are also being developed for criminal justice, emergency medical technician, structural firefighting, wildland firefighting, and welding.

Ryan Dickerson (left) leads a tour of new Fire Science facilities under construction at Klamath Community College that will be utilized when finished in 2023 to train wildland and structural firefighters.(submitted photo)

Initial cost estimates for the facility have grown from $8 million to over $11 million, necessitating increased community support to ensure that training for key careers needed to build the Klamath Basin’s infrastructure tomorrow are offered today. Expansion of facilities and programs offered as well as increased construction materials and inflation have factored into the facility’s increased total expenditure. Planned since 2014, initial groundbreaking took place last November, with ongoing construction on track to tentatively open initial facilities by early next year.

To make a tax-deductible donation in the Build the Basin 2022 campaign contact Charles Massie at 541-880-2339 or foundation@klamathcc.edu, or visit www.klamathcc.edu/buildthebasin for more information.