Chemeketa Community College District

Chemeketa Community College District, doing business as Chemeketa Community College, is a state-controlled, Hispanic-Serving Institution of higher learning based in Salem, Oregon that operates as a federal grant recipient rather than a federal contractor. The institution receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, Department of Justice, and Department of Labor to support postsecondary education, STEM workforce development, and student support services at its Salem, Brooks, and Woodburn, Oregon campuses.

Chemeketa operates predominantly as a prime grant recipient (77% of awards) and carries a smaller subrecipient footprint (23% of awards) within federal education and training grant programs. The institution does not hold federal contracts or sit on federal contract vehicles; all awards are project grants or sub-awards flowing through state agencies and institutions. Chemeketa's capability portfolio centers on undergraduate STEM education, TRIO student support services, career and technical education training, behavioral health workforce development, and veteran student success initiatives.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward the Department of Education, which accounts for 59 prime awards across three offices — Postsecondary Education (30 awards), Career Technical and Adult Education (20 awards), and Elementary and Secondary Education (9 awards). The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education has awarded five prime grants totaling over $3.3 million, focused on STEM course-based research experiences, STEM scholarships for low-income undergraduates, and laboratory equipment infrastructure. The Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons Federal Correctional Institution Sheridan places 44 awards ($1.8 million combined potential value) but these are heavily front-loaded and approaching completion; the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration awards nine grants supporting workforce training initiatives.

Recent representative prime grant work includes a $1.9 million NSF STEM Scholarships in STEM award (January 2026, through December 2031) providing up to $6,554 scholarships to 98 low-income community college students pursuing STEM transfer degrees, a $499,970 NSF course-based research experiences grant (October 2026, through September 2029) deploying professional development across STEM departments to integrate authentic research into undergraduate coursework, and a $499,969 Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education award (January 2025, through December 2027) establishing a Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success. Additional work includes a $2.2 million FIPSE grant supporting college-going access and regional equity (January 2024 through December 2027), three TRIO Upward Bound awards serving high schools in the Mid-Willamette Valley (2022 through 2027), and Department of Education-funded TRIO Student Support Services across multiple campus locations.

Subrecipient work flows through state passthrough agencies. Chemeketa receives sub-awards from the Oregon Department of Education (24 awards since 2022) under the Career and Technical Education Basic Grants to States program, from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission under Adult Education State-Administered and State Apprenticeship Expansion funding, and from Oregon State University as a subrecipient under the New Beginnings for Tribal Students in Oregon program. A single sub-award from Lane Community College routes Small Business Development Center services through Chemeketa's network.

Award activity has averaged 10 awards annually over the past five years, growing from 7 awards in 2022 to a peak of 16 in 2024, then declining to 14 in 2025 and 5 in the current year through October 2026. Six awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing a modest recompete exposure relative to the institution's $123.9 million in combined obligated dollars across 167 total awards. The sharp disparity between combined potential value ($3.4 million) and combined obligated dollars ($123.9 million) reflects the college's role as a multi-year grant recipient with significant drawdown across ongoing project periods rather than a contracting entity tracking remaining obligation ceilings.