When Central Oregon Community College opened the doors of its newly expanded Madras campus on January 5, 2026, it marked the most significant investment in rural higher education for Jefferson County in a generation. Nearly ten months into operations in the new building, the college says its healthcare and workforce training programs are gaining traction in a community that desperately needs them.

A New Building Built for Jefferson County's Needs

The new 24,000-square-foot learning center replaced a much smaller facility and gave the Madras campus room to offer programs that simply couldn't fit before. The expansion was driven by Jefferson County's well-documented shortage of healthcare workers — nurses, medical assistants, and allied health professionals — and by the broader need to give rural residents an affordable, local path to meaningful careers without commuting to Bend or Redmond.

COCC president Greg Pereira had made the case to Jefferson County commissioners the year prior that the college viewed Madras not as a satellite afterthought, but as a genuine educational hub for the region. The new building was the material follow-through on that commitment.

Nursing, Healthcare, and Childcare Tracks

Nursing and medical assisting cohorts launched in fall 2025, ahead of the building's opening, and have now completed more than a year of coursework. A childcare training program was added alongside the healthcare tracks — targeting Jefferson County's persistent shortage of licensed childcare providers, which affects working families throughout the county.

Campus director Carlos Rodriguez, who has roots in the Madras community and took over the director role in early 2025, has led the day-to-day expansion. Rodriguez has spoken publicly about enrollment trends moving upward and about strong community interest in the new program offerings.

Building a Homegrown Healthcare Pipeline

Jefferson County's healthcare workforce challenges are longstanding. The Three Sisters Rural Track Program — an OHSU-affiliated physician residency that places doctors at St. Charles Madras Family Care, Mosaic Medical Madras, and Indian Health Services in Warm Springs — has worked to bring physicians to the community. But the pipeline for nurses and allied health workers has historically lagged behind physician recruitment efforts.

COCC's expanded Madras campus aims to address that gap by training local residents who are more likely to remain in the community after graduation than recruits brought in from elsewhere. Building a workforce that is rooted here — people who live in Madras, Metolius, Culver, and Warm Springs — is widely seen as the most sustainable path to long-term healthcare stability for the county.

Enrollment information and program details for the Madras campus are available at cocc.edu/locations/madras or by calling the campus directly.