Dan Spatz, executive director of institutional advancement at CGCC, who was instrumental in obtaining support and funding for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles Campus, joins CGCC President Mata Cronin in cutting the ribbon to the new skills center Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
Chief Wilbur Slockish Jr. of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Nation speaks before a crowd gathered to celebrate the opening of a new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Open last school year, COVID delayed the celebration for over a year.
Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege speaks during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. In the background are Chief Wilbur Slockish, The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays and CGCC President Dr. Marta Cronin.
The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays speaks during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
Jonathan Neptune, instructional services manager and Community Education Coordinator at CGCC, left, discusses a resin printer with Alex Hughes of The Dalles Chamber of Commerce during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
Shanay Moore, a graduate of the construction skills program, talks about her experience in the program, one of a number of programs run last year in the new skills center. “I’m an advocate,” she explained.
Student work is displayed in a glass case in the skill center lobby. In the background are a variety of computer controlled printers and cutters used to make the items displayed.
Dan Spatz, executive director of institutional advancement at CGCC, who was instrumental in obtaining support and funding for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles Campus, joins CGCC President Mata Cronin in cutting the ribbon to the new skills center Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
THE DALLES — It was a long time coming, but partners in the building and the outfitting of two new facilities at Columbia Gorge Community College — a skills center and on-campus student housing, both at The Dalles campus — celebrated the opening of both with a ribbon-cutting Saturday, Sept. 10.
“We’ve talked about having this celebration many times, we’ve tried to have it many times, but we haven’t been able to make it happen until today,” said Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege, one of the partners in the two projects. “So I’m very happy to be here today!”
Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege speaks during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. In the background are Chief Wilbur Slockish, The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays and CGCC President Dr. Marta Cronin.
Mark B. Gibson photo
Hege and Mayor Rich Mays of the City of The Dalles were major sponsors of the projects, pooling fees to both entities from Google into almost $4 million in funds that was matched by a grant from the state of Oregon.
“The funds that came from the city and the county came from fees that we got from Google,” Hege explained. “Some people talk about them not paying taxes, but they actually pay way more fees than any (other taxpayer) in our county, by many times.
The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays speaks during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
Mark B. Gibson photo
“It’s really a wonderful facility. Facilities are great, but the facility is only one part, particularly in education,” Hege said. “I came up here a couple months ago and what I found during that tour was that they found the right people, as well. The people that are here in this building, doing these programs and providing this education, are just incredible. They have incredible passion, and that makes people excited to learn. The work that you’ll learn how to do in this building will make you an amazing living over the life of your career, and will provide all sorts of resources for your family.
“And it’s not just kids, right?” Hege added. “This facility is not just for youth, it’s for all the people that want to get the kind of training that our world really needs today.”
Mays noted that the state of Oregon, regional legislators, CGCC, Wasco County, the City of the Dalles, the Higher Education Coordinating Council and the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District all worked together to make the project a reality. “Egos and turf battles have been set aside for the public good,” he said.
The project will “enhance employment opportunities, teach high demand trades and help close the skills gap that currently exists,” Mays added.
Tim Arbogast of Hood River, chair of the CGCC Board of Directors, speaks during ribbon cutting ceremonies at The Dalles campus Sept. 10, 2022.
Mark B. Gibson photo
Tim Arbogast, chair of the CGCC board and a Hood River board representative, said, “The college vision is to become the first option of choice for education and training in the communities it serves.”
The board authorized construction of the regional skill center in 2019. “Much of the region’s labor force has lacked the skills needed to secure family wage jobs,” he explained. “That is not to say there have not been family wage jobs. Employment vacancies have been unfilled due to skills mismatch. When those positions cannot be filled with the local workforce, businesses are faced with having to recruit from outside the region.”
Jonathan Neptune, instructional services manager and Community Education Coordinator at CGCC, left, discusses a resin printer with Alex Hughes of The Dalles Chamber of Commerce during a celebration and open house for the new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
Mark B. Gibson photo
The purpose of the Skills Center is to close the skill gap. “It allows individuals the opportunity to obtain family-wage jobs, and provides employers with the workforce skills needed to meet their business needs,” Arbogast explained. “It gives the college the capacity to provide training to individuals, to train them in the skills needed to match the jobs available in our region.”
Arobogast added that regionally, housing has become a barrier to education as well. “It is well known that there’s a low vacancy rate in the college service area. When a potential student is unable to locate housing at a rate that will also allow them to afford attending college, it becomes a barrier,” he explained. “When a student is houseless because they cannot locate housing at a rate they can afford, but still have the fortitude to attend college, that is heroic but it becomes an obstacle to furthering their education.”
He said 21 students have signed contracts for housing at the new facility for the coming school year.
“Our community is richer for the development of these two facilities,” he said.
Chief Wilbur Slockish Jr. of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Nation speaks before a crowd gathered to celebrate the opening of a new skills center and student housing at The Dalles campus of Columbia Gorge Community College Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Open last school year, COVID delayed the celebration for over a year.
Mark B. Gibson photo
Kicking off the ceremony was a land acknowledgment presented by Chief Wilbur Slockish Jr. of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Nation.
After speaking of the historic loss of tribal land and ongoing degradation of the river and the natural environment, Slockish offered a statement of hope for the future. “When you do stuff together, you can make these things survive,” he said, referencing a student-built fish ladder created in the 1980s and installed in a nearby creek. “We are all human people. We all come from this ground, and when we leave we return back to it. So let’s work to make sure that this land, when we return back to it, when it calls our name, that it’s clean, that it’s revitalized. Let’s make our education so that this land is thought of first. Where it’s respected — not dominated, but respected.”
Shanay Moore, a graduate of the construction skills program, talks about her experience in the program, one of a number of programs run last year in the new skills center. “I’m an advocate,” she explained.
Mark B. Gibson photo
Dan Spatz, executive director of institutional advancement at CGCC, who was instrumental in obtaining support and funding for projects, joined CGCC President Mata Cronin in cutting the ribbon.
Student work is displayed in a glass case in the skill center lobby. In the background are a variety of computer controlled printers and cutters used to make the items displayed.
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