The cuts at the federal level are being felt here. You may agree with the cuts. You may disagree. It’s important to know what they are.

Heart of Oregon Corps lost $1 million it had been expecting. The nonprofit has been around in Central Oregon for 25 years. It connects youth who are not connecting at school or maybe not yet connecting at work. It offers them a path to education or a job.

Laura Handy, the organization’s executive director, said she tells youth: “You are capable of doing so much. You have the ability to improve these things, preserve these things, build housing. Your own family may be feeling housing insecurity. You can be part of the solution. You can build a house for a family. We are not just a place where youth can receive services. We empower youth to contribute.”

It offers youth ages 16-24 programs such as building trails, building affordable housing, doing wildfire risk reduction and watershed restoration. There’s an opportunity to earn a wage, to earn a GED, scholarships, certifications and experience. The Deschutes River Trail, the trail to Tumalo Falls, fencing near Steelhead Falls, the affordable housing at Lincoln Court in Madras – those are just some of the projects around Central Oregon youth at the Heart of Oregon Corps have worked on.

The program has been working toward building a campus center in Redmond. It’s not had a home to call its own really, working out of borrowed spaces. It designed the project, bought the land. It got gifts from many charitable donors and foundations. The project was budgeted for $7.3 million. It had everything lined up except a final $1.5 million.

Then came the new year and with it, a change in Washington, D.C. A $1 million contribution it thought it was getting from the federal government is now not coming. The $1.5 million that it needed to raise is now $2.5 million.

The project is still going ahead. There may be some changes. The 3.4 acres has an existing 14,000-square-foot warehouse and large covered areas for equipment bays. The plan is still to break ground in the fall on an additional metal building about half the size of the warehouse.

“We remain very confident that we can meet our original $1.5 million goal,” Handy said. The additional $1 million expected from the federal government? She is less certain.

They do have a generous $500,000 challenge grant – that will match $500,000 raised, essentially doubling those first $500,000 in donations. They may find some project savings, as well.

“Mostly we are going to be asking individuals and businesses to step up and make something really great happen at the local level,” she said. “It is challenging times right now. It’s a setback to lose the federal money. But I think especially during these challenging times, this project — can be such a local bright spot.”