Three Hampton Roads community colleges announce job training collaboration

The new Community College Workforce Cooperative (CCWC), a collaboration among three Hampton Roads community colleges, will create a single point of contact for accessing workforce training resources, Virginia Community Colleges (VCCS) Chancellor Glenn DuBois announced Monday. 

Paul D. Camp, Thomas Nelson and Tidewater community colleges will work together to meet large-scale job training needs for regional businesses. The cooperative will serve 11 cities and four counties through 10 college locations, providing job training resources for growing industries such as shipbuilding, ship repair and alternative energy.

“This innovation will move our community colleges beyond our traditional workforce training role,” DuBois said in a statement. “It will position us as a dependable partner in advancing the region’s economic development priorities, filling workforce gaps and making us more accessible than ever to large employers.”

Newport News Shipbuilding will partner with the cooperative to address its own hiring demand.

“As a major employer that recruits from multiple community colleges, we appreciate the single point of access that CCWC will provide to implement regionally focused training programs,” Tom Cosgrove, Newport News Shipbuilding external affairs manager, said in a statement. “CCWC will improve the responsiveness, quality and capacity of Hampton Roads’ talent pipeline to better meet the demands of all employers and connect residents with high-paying careers.”

The CCWC will soon announce the selection of an executive director, who will begin working in early 2021.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.