News Highlights

This September, Connected Lane County, Ophelia’s Place, and A Family for Every Child are opening the Youth HUB, a collaborative space for young people in downtown Eugene. Located at 44 W. 7th Avenue, the Youth HUB brings education, career opportunities, mental health and wellness support, paid work experiences, basic-needs resources, and other services together in one location. The goal is to make it easier for young people to access support, build connections, explore opport

KEZI9 News Video Highlight Watch the video from KEZI9 News featuring Connected Lane County's new Ready, Set, Thrive Campaign which helps youth and young adults create a solid foundation and helps get them ready for their next steps.

Connected Lane County's Executive Director Jesse Nelson talks with Adam from KRVM radio about key programs in the organization like job shadows, internships, drop-ins, and community partners. Listen to the full interview here! Interview with Adam from KRVM

Image Credit: Siuslaw News Connected Lane County participated in the Bridge Lane Florence Event as one of 63 resource providers and hiring employers. The event had over 125 participants with many of them traveling across Lane County. Read more about the event here! Article: Bridge Lane connects people to jobs and resources

Image credit: Ashli Blow / Lookout Eugene-Springfield Connected Lane County's Navigate youth, Fredrick, helps measure and map multiple trees in Springfield's urban forests. He's been working with the Willamalane Park and Recreation District to help catalog and document multiple trees in various parks scattered around Springfield. He has helped count almost 300 trees including "the beast." Check out Lookout Eugene-Springfield's full article to learn more about how Fredrick is

Connected Lane County piloted Direct Cash Transfers for Lane County youth. See the news coverage below! KLCC Executive Director Heidi Larwick and Program Lead Annie Dropek (pictured above) sit down with KLCC Reporter Michael Dunne to discuss Connected Lane County's pilot program for Direct Cash Transfers to prevent youth homelessness. Listen to the interview to learn more! KEZI 9 News Connected Lane County participating in pilot program to prevent youth homelessness By: Ryan

In March 2024, Connected Lane County coordinated a tour of EWEB’s facility. Dozens of youth from schools across Lane County came to EWEB to explore the Utility Service Industry. The high school youth learned about various high-wage, high-demand jobs and saw how a large utility company like EWEB operates. The youth visited various stations and learned about the necessary technology for water and electricity. Some youth even took the opportunity to go up in bucket trucks and pa

The Agency worked with Endless Mileage to create new tree tags that display athletes' finishing times. The Endless Mileage is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering sustainable environments and programming that inspires the next generation of track and field athletes to break barriers. Read more!

On Thursday, February 22, 2024, Connected Lane County hosted the Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, and Congresswoman, Val Hoyle, to provide a tour of Spark at Booth-Kelly and a roundtable discussion with program youth about their experiences at Connected Lane County. It was a wonderful experience for youth and industry partners to share with their representatives! ⁠ To learn more, check out the media coverage below. KLCC: https://www.klcc.org/politics-government/2024-

marketingJAM, the three-day marketing competition, wrapped up a successful showcase! We had 12 teams and saw competitors from Bethel, Creswell, Junction City, Siuslaw, Springfield, and 4J. Teams took on real-world challenges from local nonprofits, including Springfield Education Foundation, Lane Workforce Partnership, City Club of Eugene, and Positive Community Kitchen. Marmalade Marketeers from Creswell High School took home Best in Show for their work on Saltwater Solutions

On Thursday, December 14, we had some special visitors! Governor Tina Kotek and First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson toured Spark at Booth-Kelly as part of Governor Kotek’s One Oregon Listening Tour! Koteck met with program youth, staff, and local leaders to learn about barriers youth in our community face. Our director, Heidi Larwick, shared a recap of our year and what’s to come, and the youth talked about their experiences and plans for their future. “Over the last year, Connect

codeORcreate is an annual three-day youth technology competition. Connected Lane County hosted 48 youth from 13 schools and 7 school districts. The youth had three days to create a tech-based solution to community problems and were paired with tech mentors. At the end of the weekend, youth got to present their projects to a panel of judges during a showcase. The photo above shows the "Best in Show" team whose project was titled "Plant Hypothesis." The youth were three sophom

In early November 2023, Connected Lane Couty hosted its Career Expo event to provide youth access to different career fields. Click this link to read KEZI 9's article.

Connected Lane County received a 1.4 million dollar Future Ready Oregon Round Two Workforce Ready Grant from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission. The grant received will support the growth of Connected Lane County’s Excelerators: the Manufacturing Excelerator, Technology Excelerator, and Health Excelerator. Each Excelerator is a 250-hour experience that includes paid training at Connected Lane County’s Spark locations, followed by a paid internship within the youth’s

We are thrilled to announce our inaugural placement on the Oregon Business 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon list for 2023. This recognition ranks Connected Lane County among the small nonprofits category. The small nonprofit category is reserved for nonprofits with 20 employees and under at the time of the survey. Scores are created by considering wages, benefits, management, and more. The 100 Best list is based on employee feedback and analysis of staff benefits pro

Student inventions included 'wearable tech,' like customized jackets, water bottles and more. Check out this story at registerguard.com.

BookFest is a community-wide book gifting program providing thousands of K-2 students with new books as they head into summer. Read more on KEZI.com.