Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
The $8,000 award will help NextStep Recycling — which refurbishes and recycles old electronic devices — expand its free training program for people who graduated high school with an Individualized Education Program.
A Eugene nonprofit organization that uses an electronic recycling program for job skills training just got a boost, thanks to the Roseburg-based Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation.
NextStep Recycling is using the $8,000 grant to install more lighting in its job skills training area at the organization’s donation center at 245 Jackson St. This will help NextStep launch a new technical training certification program.
Jessica Ahrenholtz, NextStep’s executive director, is grateful for the foundation’s support.
“To me, it was super inspiring to hear about what all these other nonprofits are doing,” Ahrenholtz said of a ceremony earlier this year at Seven Feathers Casino Resort, where the grants were awarded. “I get goose bumps just talking about it.”
NextStep takes old computers, televisions, microwaves and other electronics from the community at no cost. Staff members test the devices to see if they can be refurbished. If so, employees fix the items and sell them at NextStep’s ReUse Store at 987 Garfield St. If the devices can’t be fixed, they must be broken down into their individual parts for recycling through Oregon E-Cycles.
That’s where NextStep’s job skills training comes in. Currently, the organization provides a free program to students with Individualized Education Programs who have graduated from high school. NextStep employees teach the students how to use tools to take old computers apart. NextStep gifts each student a computer upon completion of the program.
Ahrenholtz said the training program helps the students build confidence and gives them experience to put on their resumes.
NextStep plans to expand on that program with the technical training certification for people of all ages. The certification will give participants experience working with computer hardware, increasing their employment opportunities.
The Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation awarded more than $750,000 to nonprofit organizations in seven counties in southwestern Oregon.
Carma Mornarich, executive director of the foundation, said the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians has a long history of supporting its communities. According to the foundation’s website, the tribe formalized this tradition of philanthropy in 1997 by establishing a grant-making foundation.
The grants are generated with proceeds from Seven Feathers Casino Resort, which the tribe owns and operates. The foundation awards grants twice a year.
Something on your mind?
Send us a Letter to the Editor. Read our guidelines for Letters to the Editor here.
