By: Karen Pittman and Merita Irby
Our “Steward Stories” series captures lessons learned from interviews with leaders of mature, purpose-built ecosystem intermediaries. An ecosystem steward is a boundary-spanning leader who goes beyond traditional out-of-school time (OST) system building to weave together the diverse people, places, and possibilities that shape a young person’s daily life. Rather than managing a single isolated network, stewards collaborate across K-12 schools, youth development programs, and workforce systems to build vibrant, equitable learning ecosystems. They drive systemic change from practice to policy by creating purpose-built intermediaries, developing scalable cross-system training tools, and championing “Future Features” of learning. These core priorities include promoting learner agency, institutionalizing “unwalled” schools that connect community resources to formal education, broadening the definition of educators to include informal mentors, and normalizing pathways for students to receive school credit or credentials for out-of-school learning.
The starting points, paths, and targets set by these stewards are as varied as the conditions and opportunities present within their communities. But they share similarities in vision and approach. Learn More Here.
Learning ecosystems may be found anywhere, but it takes careful stewardship to help them thrive.
Shift, Remake Learning
Bridge Builders are Believers
Heart of Oregon Corps was founded in 2000 by three Central Oregon leaders — Dan Saraceno, Dennis Maloney, and Dave Holmes, known affectionately as “the three Ds” — who came together around a shared belief that young people deserved real opportunities to contribute, earn, and build a future. Dan was a school counselor and advocate for youth with disabilities and alternative pathways. Denny was the director of Deschutes County Juvenile Justice and an early restorative justice practitioner. Dave led juvenile justice work crews and drew on his lived experience as a formerly court-involved youth and as an Army Command Sergeant Major. Together, they launched Heart of Oregon Corps as a community-rooted workforce and learning model that connected youth — especially those facing barriers — with paid work, supportive relationships, and meaningful service projects that strengthened the region.
Laura Handy joined Heart of Oregon Corps in 2006 to help implement HOC’s early AmeriCorps work. With a background in youth development and community-based leadership — including mentoring youth in detention, domestic violence shelter work, teen girls’ programming, and outdoor leadership — she recognized the power of the corps model. Laura stepped into the executive director role in 2012 and has since helped guide the organization through periods of rapid growth and major disruption, strengthening its partnerships with schools, employers, and rural communities while keeping the focus on paid pathways that build skills, confidence, and lasting opportunity. Today, she is leading the effort to create a permanent campus — including classrooms and training areas, equipment storage areas, youth laundry and shower, and confidential meeting rooms so that when a young person needs privacy, staff no longer have to say “grab your coat, let’s go for a walk.”
Heart of Oregon engages about 225 youth annually who earn more than $1M each year in wages and stipends and receive $125k in AmeriCorps education awards annually. To date, HOC has served over 5,000 young people across the tri-county area, a neighboring county, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
HOC’s partnership footprint spans multiple school districts, juvenile justice, public land agencies (including long-standing Forest Service collaboration), regional workforce systems, employers and industry groups, and disability transition services — reflecting its role as a learning ecosystem connector. HOC is sustained through a blended partnership and funding model that includes fee-for-service contracts (e.g., natural resources and recycling-related work), federal program grants (AmeriCorps and YouthBuild), and long-term employer engagement through an Employer Advisory Council and regional business networks.
For the region, HOC is a long-term investment in community capacity and a reliable workforce pipeline. For young people, it provides something many have never experienced: peer belonging, consistent mentorship, trauma-informed support, and a structured pathway that turns service into skills, and skills into careers.
YouthBuild Heart of Oregon Style
When Heart of Oregon Corps launched YouthBuild in 2009 with a $1.1M grant, it went all in. It became a licensed construction contractor, deepening school partnerships and expanding into trades and housing pathways. In 2024, 74% of YouthBuild members earned pre-apprenticeship certifications and 79% obtained OSHA 10 Construction cards. 17 members earned their high school diplomas or GEDs.
With three construction partners, YouthBuild members completed their first BlitzBuild, joining forces with two out-of-state YouthBuild program teams to build five sleeping shelters in just one day!
“I didn’t know where my life was heading, and while others saw me as a lost cause, Heart of Oregon reached out and offered me a helping hand. Now, here I am, graduating high school nearly a year early and working at Sunlight Solar. What I’m most grateful for isn’t just the skills they taught me — like being a professional in the workplace or building walls on a jobsite — but for showing me that what truly matters in life is the time we spend improving our community.” — Jacob B
Taking the YouthBuild model beyond construction, HOC launched a Child and Youth Development Track with Sisters Parks and Recreation Pre-School. 16 corps members have earned their Child and Youth Care Certifications since the track launched in 2022.
“YouthBuild created an encouraging, judgment-free environment that pushed me to believe in my potential, overcome challenges, and stay committed to confidently earning my diploma. I truly couldn’t have done it without Heart of Oregon’s endless support!” — Jackie
Timeline
Trust, Time, and Idea Translation are the essential elements of ecosystem leadership that, once in place, allow intermediaries to authentically co-develop and adapt tools, trainings, and technologies, working collectively to identify and address shared problems and, in so doing, sustaining their value-added stewardship roles with their ecosystem partners.
Forging Connections
1998 — The 3 Ds begin meeting around a shared question: What would it look like to give youth real work, real wages, and real responsibility instead of cycling them through punishment, disconnected services, or dead-end jobs?
2000 — Heart of Oregon Corps is founded by Dave Holmes, Dennis Maloney, and Dan Saraceno in partnership with Deschutes County Juvenile Justice as a restorative, work-based alternative for court-involved and disengaged youth. 99 enroll in the 1st year.
2001 — Partners with the U.S. Forest Service to launch the Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, running 21 summer crews and 3 year-round crews.
2002 — Raises funds to purchase 3 vans and 3 trailers, building early infrastructure for growth.
2003 — More than 500 youth hired — an early signal that regional youth will respond to opportunities for work, learn, earn, lead.
Strengthening Connections
2006 — Adds the AmeriCorps Civic Justice Corps, a national pilot program to demonstrate the restorative justice power of national service.
2007 — Launches an Employer Advisory Council designed to be “low lift” for employers (two meetings a year) while building a ladder of deeper involvement through mock interviews, jobsite tours, mentoring, and board participation. Knife River and Mt. Bachelor are early members.
2008 — Opens the Bend office, expanding presence and access.
2008–2012 — Grows quickly during the Great Recession, because it can translate dollars into actual paid jobs — from 140 to 260 youth jobs annually as public agencies and partners ask, “Can you hire more youth?”
2009 — Launches YouthBuild with a $1.1M grant, deepening school partnerships and expanding into trades and housing pathways. Strengthens entrepreneurial fee-for-service backbone.
2011 — Unveils a new mission focused on jobs, education, and stewardship.
Sustaining Connections
2012 — Founder Dave Holmes retires; Laura Handy is promoted to executive director, bringing the youth development lens into sharper focus.
2012 — Opens a Thrift Store in downtown Madras as a job skills training program for youth who experience disabilities, reflecting the founders’ commitment to disability inclusion.
2013 — Expands year-round AmeriCorps programming to Prineville, strengthening regional reach.
2014 — Builds its 20th affordable home (over 40 homes built to date).
2015 — Launches Camp LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Development), a short-term “springboard” experience designed to build confidence of youth who experience disabilities before transitioning into integrated crews.
2016 — Reaches $1M in total AmeriCorps scholarships awarded.
Scaling Connections
2017 — “Fleet for the Future” capital campaign raises $500K+ for upgraded vehicles and equipment to ensure crews can reliably respond to commitments.
2018 — Opens a dedicated facility in Prineville at Ochoco Crossing.
2019 — Launches a 3-year Data Driven Impact Initiative to strengthen data practice and improve equitable youth outcomes. Hires and trains 300 youth each year, paying $700K+ in wages and stipends for conservation, trails, housing, and thrift store programming.
2020 — Celebrates 20 years of “training tomorrow’s workforce today” while continuing to adapt program models without losing the core components.
2021 — Stays operational during COVID, keeping crews running by using extra newly-rented warehouse space for social distancing.
2025 — Breaks ground on new Workforce Development Campus in Redmond — an expanded regional hub for training, support services, and deeper employer partnerships. Celebrates 5,000 youth trained for its 25th anniversary.
Systems leadership and ecosystem stewardship require different mindsets, skill sets, strategies and structures. Both types of leadership are critical. One is much better understood than the other.
Learning Ecosystem Intermediaries, Alliance for Youth Thriving
Karen Pittman and Merita Irby are co-founders of Knowledge to Power Catalysts and managing partners of the Alliance for Youth Thriving. This post draws from Learning Ecosystem Intermediaries: Cultivating Connections Across Systems & Ecosystems to Help Youth Thrive, co-authored with Merita Irby and commissioned by Remake Learning (January 2026).
About Heart of Oregon Corps
Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC) is a Central Oregon–based nonprofit that engages young people ages 16–24 in paid work, job training, education, and service that strengthens communities and opens pathways into skilled careers. Founded in 2000 by three community changemakers who shared a simple but radical belief: young people who have been pushed to the margins can thrive when they are given meaningful work, supportive adults, and a real chance to contribute.
From the beginning, HOC embraced a corps-based model rooted in belonging and real work. The founders saw the poor results associated with the traditional deficit-focused supports provided to young people leaving the juvenile justice system or navigating poverty. HOC flipped that equation by creating a model where youth earn wages and build work habits, credentials, and confidence addressing real community challenges — restoring public lands, building affordable housing, and supporting childcare access.
Heart of Oregon has evolved from a single service corps into a tri-county workforce and learning ecosystem, connecting youth, employers, schools, public land agencies, community colleges, and community-based partners through layered pathways. HOC has responded to community needs by introducing national programs like Conservation Corps, YouthBuild, AmeriCorps and developing local ones like a thrift store and a childcare workforce track. These projects are sprinkled across the region, supported by integrated infrastructure such as transportation, case management, academic support, coaching, and employer partnership development.