NORCOR Greenhouse

*Due to COVID-19 we have paused this project for 2021*

Wasco County Master Gardeners are teamed up with detained youth in a greenhouse gardening mentorship program at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Juvenile Detention Facility (NORCOR).

Together, Master Gardeners and juvenile detainees grow hundreds of varieties of annual and perennial plant starts, which are sold in May at the annual Spring Fair plant sale. Proceeds benefit both the Master Gardener Association and NORCOR Juvenile Detention. This program serves as a sustainable horticultural work-study relationship with in-custody youth. It provides the student detainees access to a hands-on learning environment to explore seeds, soils, irrigation, fertilization, as well as community-building and the opportunity to work as a team alongside knowledgeable adults.

This project won 3rd place in the International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Award for special needs audiences for 2017! Congratulations to the NORCOR team on this accomplishment.

This project also won the Oregon Master Gardener Association's Search for Excellence Award in 2013. Check out what The Dalles Chronicle had to say about it!