Vote Yes - McMinnville

New McMinnville Campus

The two stacked modular buildings on McMinnville's west side were installed in 1981. They have served us well, but are now simply inadequate to meet the growing needs of Yamhill County for local, affordable transfer education, and literacy skill-building opportunities, and for the professional-technical training our citizens must have to find and keep family-wage jobs. Over the past eight years, McMinnville Campus student surveys have consistently pointed to requirements for better facilities and more courses. A proposed new Academic Building would address both these issues, and also provide student services that are currently only available from Salem. Yamhill County's population grew 28% between 1990 and 2000, and state agencies project that pace of growth will continue through 2040. A new facility will provide needed breadth, depth, and flexibility in Chemeketa's services in Yamhill County.

Visions for a New McMinnville Campus

The McMinnville Center provides local, affordable adult education, literacy, and training opportunities for Amity, Carlton, Dayton, Lafayette, McMinnville, Sheridan, Willamina, and Yamhill. The two stacked modular buildings on Hill Road were used when installed in 1981. They have served us well, but are now simply inadequate to meet the growing demands of Yamhill County, and their maintenance costs are becoming excessive. Student surveys have consistently pointed to needs for better facilities and more courses. The proposed new McMinnville Campus would allow more breadth, depth, and flexibility in the courses offered, and would improve the level of student support and services to that expected of a full-fledged community college campus.

Of Local Interest

Median household, family, and per capita income figures for Yamhill County lag behind those for the rest of the country. Learning the skills necessary to find and keep family-wage employment is an important local concern.
The rate at which Yamhill County residents - recent high school graduates, in particular - enroll at Chemeketa lags significantly behind those for Marion and Polk Counties, in large part due to facilities limitations.
Between 1990 and 2000, Yamhill County’s population grew 28% - to 84,992, and McMinnville grew 48% - to 26,499. State agencies project this pace of growth will continue through 2040.