College of the Redwoods launches campaign honoring Keith Flamer's legacy

College of the Redwoods is turning Keith Flamer’s retirement into a fundraising push aimed at students who need housing, athletes who need stable support and a campus economy that reaches well beyond Eureka. The College of the Redwoods Foundation has launched the Keith Flamer Legacy Campaign to back the programs Flamer championed during more than 11 years as president and more than 20 years serving the college and Humboldt County.

At the center of the effort is the Redwoods Room & Board Scholarship Fund, which helps students experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. The fund provides semester grants so students can live in CR residence halls and receive a meal plan, a practical form of support that can determine whether a student stays enrolled or drops out. The campaign also supports the Redwoods Championship Club, which helps fund College of the Redwoods’ intercollegiate athletics program and is designed to provide long-term budget stability.

That matters on a campus where athletics has grown into a major student draw. CR now fields 16 teams and has more than 315 student-athletes. About half of those athletes come from Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties, keeping many of them close to home while they study and compete. The college says student-athletes graduate at higher rates than the general student population, making the program both a community identity point and an academic pipeline.

The foundation says the campaign is meant to support the same initiatives Flamer advanced: student success, career-building programs and community uplift. Its broader mission is to build partnerships that benefit students, local businesses and the community, with emphasis on student enrollment, student success, economic development, community health and equitable opportunity. For employers across Humboldt County, that makes the campaign more than a tribute. It is an investment in a local workforce and in the college programs that keep students connected to the region.

College of the Redwoods says more than 185,000 students have attended the school since it opened in 1964, a reminder of how deeply the college is woven into the North Coast economy and civic life. The Redwoods Community College District has also launched a nationwide search for Flamer’s successor, with input from students, faculty, staff, administrators and community partners. Flamer is the seventh president of CR, and his path to the college began after he arrived in Humboldt County in 2006 from Chicago with more than 25 years of higher-education leadership experience.