by Kristen De Deyn Kirk
Shawn Avery, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Workforce Council, doesn’t yet know the exact healthcare gaps his new Hampton Roads Partnership for Health Sciences will fill. He’s also not sure of Coastal Virginia’s most pressing medical staff needs.
That data will come soon enough. In the meantime, Avery’s confident that any gaps will be closed and personnel needs lessened. The lack of ego displayed by local college presidents gathered for the group’s inaugural meeting in late 2024 gave him hope.
“Everyone around the room understood the importance of healthcare and are all on board with working together,” he says. “This is a big enough issue for our region that not one of them can do it by themselves. Unfortunately, egos and competition kind of killed some of the best projects that are out there. I did not see a lick of that around the table.”
Introduced last year, the Hampton Roads Partnership for Health Sciences draws inspiration from The Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Sciences. Their initiative started in Roanoke six years ago with Carilion Clinic taking a leading role. At the time, they found that the region had more than 41,000 healthcare jobs, with an anticipated seven percent growth by 2029. Yet leaders also noticed another number—a concerning, declining one: Back in 2018, 6,463 health-related students graduated from area institutions. That number slipped to 6,320 in 2019. Now with seven committees working toward defined goals, they’re mapping a process to raise the number of graduates prepared for careers in the region’s most critical areas of healthcare.
Avery looks forward to the day his partnership has the precise numbers to guide the work. Key elements are in place to get started. Heading up efforts locally are two Workforce Council staffers with $125,000 in financial support from Dominion Energy and Bon Secours, donated in December 2024. Bank of America, Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, Jobs for the Future and regional healthcare systems previously provided support as well. Avery is researching grants for additional funding.
The newly formed Hampton Roads Partnership for Health Sciences held its inaugural meeting in late 2024
He knows what his staff can accomplish: For decades, they’ve worked hand in hand with the local maritime industry, doing just what they hope to replicate in healthcare—identifying employer workforce needs, guiding educators to offer programs in those fields and recruiting students to enroll in related courses and degrees.
Plus, Avery sees an opportunity to overlap efforts with his Workforce Council’s Veterans Employment Center.
“We’re already working very closely with our transition service members and their families,” he explains. “Let’s say somebody is transitioning to the region, and they want to know what some other opportunities are here, or they’re coming out of the military, and they have a medical background. How can we connect them directly to the employers? If they just need a new certification, or they need some type of other opportunity, then how can we help transition them directly into employment?”
All local businesses—not just those in healthcare—benefit when a region has the right health care providers available.
“If you don’t have a good healthcare system, it’s going to be hard for you to recruit individuals into your business,” Avery says. “If one of our businesses here in the region is looking to recruit somebody from outside the region, they know that the possible new employee will look at the healthcare systems. That’s extremely important for your own current employees also. You want to make sure that your employees are healthy. That’s going to continue to drive productivity and profits.”
While Avery has talked with the large schools and health systems as part of this initiative so far, he welcomes input from everyone, regardless of their organization’s size.
“We’re also working with medical offices that may be smaller practices,” Avery says. “If there are partners out there that want to get involved or learn more about it, we welcome them.”
Reach Shawn Avery about the Hampton Roads Partnership for Health Sciences at savery@theworkforcecouncil.org.
