Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Get Involved

Volunteer Opportunities

Rock Creek Learning Garden volunteer hours are every weekday Monday-Friday from 9am-1pm.

Stay as long as you wish. No need to RSVP. Just show up! We can provide tools, gloves, instruction and a share of the harvest!

Work and Fun Parties

Help the Learning Garden get ready for the growing season! Come meet new friends, get to know the Learning Garden and have fun working with plants.

Snacks will be provided and you can drop-in during any of the times below. The Garden is located across from Buildings 5 & 9 at Rock Creek.

• Upcoming dates TBD

Questions? Contact us!

Job opportunities in the Learning Garden

The Learning Garden at Rock Creek is a lively and beautiful place to work! The Learning Garden thrives with care and attention, and you could be involved in seeding, planting, pruning, harvesting, and working with volunteers.

Work study positions are often available on the PCC Job Board website.

Community Garden Beds

PCC’s Rock Creek Learning Garden has community gardening raised beds for use by identity-based centers and staff, faculty and students. These raised garden beds help grow a sense of collectivity and stewardship within the Rock Creek Campus community and garden at the same time as mitigating food insecurity. Academic teams, clubs, centers, and service departments collectively work in the garden and are integral members in the care and flourishing of the garden.

Some of the benefits provided:

• 8’ x 4’ raised garden bed
• Personalized crop planning and garden advice
• Compost
• Wood chips, cardboard and leaves for mulching
• Garden tools, wheelbarrows and gloves for use
• Frost free water source and hoses
• Fun work parties and events in the garden
• Washington County Master Gardener Education Garden workshops
• Small library of gardening resources, posters and books on growing food
• An environment that feeds the soul and promotes land stewardship

Student resource centers on campus will be invited to adopt a bed on a first-come-first-served basis at the close of Winter Term. If any beds go unclaimed we send an open invitation to all current PCC students, staff and faculty to acquire seasonal use of a community bed. Any groups and/or individuals awarded a bed must read through and adhere to the community gardening guidelines, attend a mandatory garden orientation, commit to tend your bed the entire season and do some hours of volunteer service in the garden. Let’s get growing together!

Contact us for more information about the community garden.

Garden Gossip

Keep up to date with news from the Learning Garden with our student-driven newsletter called “Garden Gossip”. Student created content takes time, please be patient with our random publication schedule! Sign up for Garden Gossip.

Take a Course

Many courses on PCC campuses work in conjunction with RC’s Learning Garden. Take a course to gain in-depth knowledge of gardening practices through Community Based Learning (CBL) or regular class curriculum. CBL students are eligible for the volunteer rewards program.

• BI 163 Organic Gardening, Rock Creek
• HE 264 Health, Food & the Environment
• HOR 285 Permaculture Design, Rock Creek
• English as a Second Language, (ESOL) 152, 254, Rock Creek

Giving