March 25, 2022
Years of community engagement in Hartnell College’s education centers in King City, Soledad and Castroville have guided plans for their use and, equally important, inspired $3.7 million in private support to operate them. The $167 million Measure T Bond funded design, construction and fixtures of the buildings, but not additional operating costs, including instructors and student support staff. Gifts and pledges from dozens of individual and institutional donors will pay those additional costs for up to five years. The Hartnell College Foundation has led the fundraising drive, which was at 99% of its goal by February 2022.
Community meetings to invite recommendations from residents, businesses and elected
leaders began before the bond measure’s approval by voters in 2016, and engagement
continued during construction of the centers. For example, on Sept. 24, 2020, the
foundation hosted an outdoor luncheon and tour at the Soledad center, allowing Soledad
and Gonzales city officials and prospective donors to see dramatic progress on construction.
The student speaker was then-Soledad High School senior Marlene Martinez, who described
how the new center would give her flexibility to work part-time and attend classes
without traveling back and forth to Salinas. Similar by-invitation tours were held
at the Castroville and King City centers. 
Supporters were invited back to see the completed buildings. On Oct. 14, 2021, a ribbon-cutting event at the newly reopened King City center included remarks by Susan Gill, a foundation board member and chair of the King City Expansion Committee. She noted that the naming gifts for the center’s new science labs, classrooms and other facilities reflected the support of both current and former Hartnell employees and many King City-area companies and families. “They all believe in Hartnell,” Gill said, “and they all believe in changing the lives of our students.”
Hartnell Education Center Donors
As of December 2021, individual and institutional donors had given or pledged $3.7 million to support the first five years of operations at the King City, Soledad and King City education centers. Contributors are listed alphabetically by center:
King City
Jerry & Natalie Rava
King City Rotary Club
L.A. Hearne
Lynn & Mikel Ann Miller
Margaret Duflock
Mike & Mary Orradre
Monterey Peninsula Foundation
Monterey Wine Company
Nate & Cindy Holaday
Paulette Bumbalough
Salinas Land Company
Sally Hughes Church Foundation
Smith-Monterey LLC
Steve Schmidt
The Holaday Family
Tom & Sharise Salcido (Salcido Construction)
Soledad
D’Arrigo-Martin Family
Harden Foundation
Hayward Family Foundation
Huntington Farms
Monterey Peninsula Foundation
Padilla-Chavez Family
Tanimura Family Foundation
Castroville
Castroville Artichoke Festival
Dilbeck and Sons Construction
Harden Foundation
Hayward Family Foundation
Ocean Mist
Sally Hughes Church Foundation
Tanimura Family Foundation
Tony & Cathy Alameda
Tottino Family