Students work in a class on the Central Oregon Community College Madras campus in 2015. 

Central Oregon Community College received more than $4 million from lottery revenue bonds that were included in the 2023-25 legislative budget, according to a press release from the college. The funds will be used for the Madras campus expansion project, which is scheduled to break ground this winter, the college said.

The expansion includes a new building that will house a child care facility for Jefferson County families as well as health care and early learning education labs and classrooms.

The facility will care for up to 100 children. The approximately 24,000-square-foot building will be on land gifted by the Bean Foundation, and will allow the campus, which opened in 2011, to offer four in-demand academic programs: nursing, nursing assistant, medical assistant and early childhood education.

The child care facility will be managed by The Children’s Learning Center.

Both the child care and the new programs should address significant community need in Jefferson County.

The Oregon Employment Department predicts that the education and health care sectors will jump by 26% between 2021 and 2031 across Central Oregon.

Due to the expansion in programs, up to 88 students could graduate each year from the Madras campus.

The campus expansion is set to open in late spring into early summer of 2025, said Jeremy Green, the COCC Madras campus director.