Three members of The Dalles Community Outreach team made the semi-annual trip to Washington, D.C. to talk with federal officials.  The emphasis of this trip was to push for funding for a regional skills center and campus housing for Columbia Gorge Community College.  The state has committed seven-point-three million dollars for the project, but the local community must match that amount by January 2019.  The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence says they are hoping to get four million dollars in federal funding.  The most likely avenue to get that money is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program.  Lawrence says they are looking at all options to find the rest of the funds.