Hampton Roads Community News

Hampton U. Receives $17.7 Million Workforce Grant

HAMPTON
Hampton University announced recently it has been awarded a grant in The Reimagine Workforce Preparation Program.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made the award during a visit to the campus where she met with President William R. Harvey, Mayor Donnie Tuck, and other area leaders.

Hampton University, in collaboration with the Virginia Board of Workforce Development and Old Dominion University, will receive $17.7 million to establish the Virginia Workforce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (VWIEC).

“Hampton’s proposal is especially promising,” Devos said. “It will establish the exciting Virginia Workforce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, a statewide small-business incubator, which will facilitate opportunities for Virginia’s current and aspiring entrepreneurs to help grow our recovering economy.”

Dr. William Harvey, HU President, said, “Our founder, General Armstrong, said that his institution required two things. One, a first-rate academic program. Today, that would be called workforce development. Two, he said, the development of character. He said that of the two, the development of character was the more important. I want everybody to know, that as the 12th president of Hampton University, I feel the exact same way.”

HU’s work center will be designed for all students of all ages, especially adult learners seeking new knowledge and skills to grow their own businesses.

Funding for this grant program was made available through the Education Stabilization Fund of the CARES Act. Applications for the grant were evaluated by a panel of independent peer reviewers, and the highest-scoring applications received funding. Dr. Kermit Crawford, Hampton University Avalon Endowed Professor, served as PI for this grant.

The program will provide students the opportunity to develop new skills, provide innovators and inventors the resources to expand existing businesses, and encourage institutions of higher education to foster business development and innovation as America begins to recover from COVID-19-related disruptions to education and the economy. Other winners of the grant include Nevada, Alabama and Michigan.