EO opens workforce development hub in Abingdon

A former Kmart in Abingdon is now home to a workforce development and child care hub launched by EO, a nonprofit that spun off from the United Way of Southwest Virginia to oversee workforce development programs.

EO received the certificate of occupancy for the 87,000-square-foot Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub and began moving employees into the center at the end of August, a week earlier than anticipated, says Mary Anne Holbrook, EO’s vice president of development. By mid-September, all 44 EO employees had moved in. A grand opening celebration is set for the week of Oct. 21.

Construction on the hub began in July 2023. 

“We’re overwhelmed with the support of the business community,” EO President and CEO Travis Staton says. “Raising $26.5 million in a year shows at a local level how a public-private partnership can be built,” he explains, emphasizing the wide-reaching support of local employers as well as advocates in state government.

The name EO, which doubles as the Latin word for “go” and an abbreviation for “Endless Opportunities,” represents the organization’s mission to serve as a “cradle-to-career” support system to prepare Southwest Virginians for career success while retaining the local workforce. Holbrook notes that operations in the hub are expected to create 100 jobs.

To help close the regional gap in access to early child care that bars some parents from working, EO’s hub includes a roughly 25,000-square-foot child care facility owned and managed by Ballad Health that opened in early September.

The hub also supports workforce development, with classrooms for early childhood education and the Career Commons, an approximately 20,000-square-foot area with learning labs where regional employers created activities for K-12 students.

“When you look into Career Commons, it is a miniature city of employers,” including a hospital, a grocery store and a bank, Holbrook says. “So, students of all ages will be able to do appropriate career exploration activities on their field trips, and those begin in mid-October with the middle school students from across Southwest Virginia.”

The hub includes a classroom for high school students who participate in Washington County’s early childhood education career and technical education program to attend lectures. The students can then complete practical hours working in Ballad’s early childhood development center. EO will also offer professional development opportunities for early childhood educators already in the field at the hub.