HR Partnership | October 31, 2009

On Jan 21, 2009 after taking the oath of office, when President Obama spoke to his White House Senior Staff for the first time, his speech included this (excerpted) call to action for the nation:

“Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that Government does not have all the answers, and that public officials need to draw on what citizens know. And that’s why, as of today, I’m directing members of my administration to find new ways of tapping the knowledge and experience of ordinary Americans—scientists and civic leaders, educators and entrepreneurs—because the way to solve the problems of our time, as one Nation, is by involving the American people in shaping the policies that affect their lives.”

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Category: Government & Citizens | No Comments »
Tags: Civic Engagement

HR Partnership | October 30, 2009

From Senator Mark R. Warner:

Congratulations on this inaugural issue of “Healthcare in Hampton Roads,” a publication that will give the health community an opportunity to share and promote the region’s most effective services to help residents stay healthy and active.

Hampton Roads already is a proven leader in increasing quality and improving services in health care. In addition to the cutting-edge education programs available for medical training, the regions’ health care providers are nationally-recognized leaders in replacing paper charts with electronic medical records. By utilizing this technology, hundreds of medical facilities can share valuable information about a patient’s medical history, helping to reduce administrative costs and improve the quality of treatment.

Click here to read more by downloading the magazine.

In this issue:

• Leading Edge Cardiac Services in Hampton Roads
• Keeping the Flow Going
• Unsung Heroes
• Mystery Among Us
• Women and Heart Disease
• Health Alert
• Ask the Expert
• Nutrition and Wellness
• Senior Living
• New Health Advancements
• Health Directory

Contact the publisher if you would like to receive a printed copy.

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Category: About Hampton Roads, Military Bastion, Research & Technology | No Comments »
Tags: Healthcare, Military Bastion

HR Partnership | October 29, 2009

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that a higher percentage of Hampton Roads residents have health insurance than the U.S. population. Only 11% of civilian residents in the Hampton Roads MSA lacked health insurance in 2008, compared with 15% of the population nationwide, the bureau said in its latest American Community Survey.

The data on insurance coverage does not include members of the active-duty military, individuals in prison and those in nursing homes.

Among residents of the metro area who had health insurance, 78% had their coverage with a private provider, according to the survey. The remaining 22% had coverage through public programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration.

In the survey, the Census Bureau also reported that the median household income in Hampton Roads rose in 2008 even as the national figure declined. The region’s median household income climbed 4.2% to $57,122 last year from $54,824 in 2007.

Nationwide, the median household income fell 3.6% to $50,303 last year from $52,163 in 2007.

One reason for the income growth in Hampton Roads was that the region lagged the rest of the country going into the downturn, said Vinod Agarwal, an economics professor at Old Dominion University and a member of ODU’s Economic Forecasting Project. The recession’s impact has been less severe in Hampton Roads largely because of the economic buffer that defense spending provides to the region.

In addition, Hampton Roads lacked the concentration of financial-services activity that lost so many jobs as the recession worsened, Agarwal said. However, the region’s black households didn’t share in the growth in median income. Their median household income fell 5.6% to $38,517 last year from $40,784.

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Category: About Hampton Roads, Economy, Military Bastion | 1 Comment »
Tags: Hampton Roads, ODU

HR Partnership | October 28, 2009

The Norfolk Foundation and the Economics Club of Hampton Roads hosted a Community Matters Luncheon on October 28^th with Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), also a Hampton University graduate.

Dr. Hrabowski:

The business community understands and appreciates the connection with pre K-20 education and success as a region.

Thomas Friedman, of “Hot, Flat and Crowded” book fame, recently spoke at UMBC and drove home these points: global warming is real, we’re in an energy crisis and demographics is an even bigger issue. And, then he asked, how do we find the resources to deal with this?

At the base of each of these issues is quality education. We measure progress in higher education attainment in ten-year time spans, and every ten years, we are making progress. However, still today, 70% of whites, 80% of blacks, and 90% of Hispanics, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., do not have a college degree.

Historically, there have been plenty of jobs available for people without degrees. But, with technological advances today and in the future, we’re not prepared. Americans (39%) and Canadians (41%) are the most educated people in the world today in the 35-65 age group. However, in the 25-35 age group, the U.S. has dropped from #2 in the world to #7. China, India and other developing countries have focused their emphasis on education to build their economies.

Case in point, there are: 1.3 Billion Chinese, 1.1 Billion Indians, totaling 2.4 Billion. Using simple math, they have almost more geniuses (top 10% of their population equates to 240 Million) than the U.S. has people (300 Million).

The U.S. needs innovation in education that seeds critical thinking in students. There is a stark achievement gap between our best students and the best in other countries. We must knock down boundaries, discuss the problems and build trust to lead people to ask the right questions.

Instead of asking your child, “What did you learn in school today?” ask, “Did you ask a good question today?”

We are at a crossroads in this country. Unhealthy communities have schools that are heavily minority, poor white and not doing well in addition to middle to upper middle class schools that are doing well. Healthy communities attack the problems by not placing blame and treating all schools equally.

Emphasize to your kids to read, and to read critically! Even math involves solving word problems. Children need to develop a “sense of self.” We must instill value in wanting to be smart. Our culture today reinforces to kids that it’s not cool to be smart, unlike the countries that are bypassing us on the educational front.

Without an education, regardless of sex, race or social status, the future is not very bright for a child today. We must prepare our kids to “know what they know they don’t know.”

If we’re not careful, technology will rule us, rather than we rule technology.

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport is a metaphor for the 21^st century. If you can’t read well, follow complex directions and problem solve, you are lost.

To do what we must do to succeed, we must develop and engage in problem-solving both sides of the brain. The book, “A Whole New Mind,” emphasizes this dilemma. Left brain thinking got us to the technology-based world we live in today. And, our future will rely on right brain thinking, too.

We are an instant gratification culture; we want solutions at the snap of a finger. And, that’s not always possible. Sometimes you have to think about the solution, offering this word problem as an example:

This is a 6th grade classroom.
There are 29 kids.
There are 20 dogs and 15 cats owned.
How many kids have both a cat and a dog?

The most important math for high school students is not calculus, it is statistics and probability. Perhaps if we’d been teaching that, we might not have had our recent home financing problems.

Virginia has a great strength in its deep sense of education that’s hundreds of years old. The challenge today is to believe in our children and have them believe in themselves. Kids need to see the relationship between goals and expectations. They’re bored in today’s classrooms. We’re in a 21^st century technology-driven world, and we have an educational system developed around a 19^th century world. We need to bring dynamics to the classroom with more emphasis on and more infusion of creativity to get kids to “connect.”

On the other hand, too much blame is placed on teachers for “teaching to the test.” They’ve not been trained any differently, and parents are not spending enough time teaching their own kids by working on homework with them. Children must be taught to think, to get beyond routine problems in order to deal with life, not just math.

Hampton Roads, I leave you with this challenge: Build on your strengths and create excitement for the idea of education. Say something good every day about this place and to a child.

Thoughts become words.
Words become actions.
Actions become habits.
Habits become character.
Character becomes your destiny.

See Angelica Light, The Norfolk Foundation President and CEO, interview Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, before the event:

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Category: About Hampton Roads, Education & Workforce, Military Bastion | 1 Comment »
Tags: Education, Military Bastion

HR Partnership | October 28, 2009

To find the most stressful cities, Forbes examined quality of life factors in the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), geographic entities defined by the Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

Hampton Roads’ MSA ranked 34th out of 40 overall. Ranking 33rd in median home price drop, 37th in unemployment rate, 18th in quality of life, 32nd in air quality, 19th in sunny days per year and 20th in population density.

The Top Ten most stressful cities? (ranked in order) Chicago IL, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, Cleveland OH, Providence RI, San Francisco CA, Detroit MI, Boston MA, Washington DC, San Jose CA.

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Category: About Hampton Roads, Military Bastion | No Comments »
Tags: Hampton Roads

HR Partnership | October 27, 2009

Recently, the Daily Press ran a campaign highlighting Hampton Roads’ excellent assets such as higher education, history, healthcare and our many port facilities to promote regional confidence.

Regional leaders featured include Dr. Bill Harvey, President of Hampton University; Colin Campbell, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Rick Pearce, President and CEO of Riverside Health Systems; and Dana Dickens, President and CEO of the Hampton Roads Partnership.

Click on the graphics below to download your complete copy.

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Category: About Hampton Roads | 1 Comment »
Tags: Daily Press, Military Bastion

HR Partnership | October 26, 2009

Click here for slides from the Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Future of Hampton Roads on Friday, October 23^rd.

The Town Meeting kicked off with a panel, which consisted of retired RADM Ray Taylor (President, FHR), Louis Guy (Civil Engineer, retired Director of Norfolk Public Works), Brad Face (President, Face International Co. and member of Virginians for High Speed Rail) and Gil Yochum (Professor of Economics, ODU) who provided varying views on the High Speed Rail (HSR) subject.

Interest in High Speed Rail has now been reactivated with the potential availability of federal monies from the Obama administration. The Richmond to Hampton Roads Passenger Rail Study ( R2HR ) is undergoing modifications resulting from Federal Rail Administration (FRA) comment and should be completed in early 2010, but “no one is involved in the process on behalf of Hampton Roads.” Ray characterized the R2HR project as a “family feud between the two sides of the river.” He pointed to slide 5 with the 40 largest MSAs; only 3 regions are not on the “main line”: Phoenix (middle of the desert), Denver (isolated in mountains) and Hampton Roads, “the most important region in North America not on the ‘main line’.” We are behind and we need to catch-up, as emphasized by Mayors Paul Fraim (Norfolk) and Will Sessoms (Virginia Beach) at a recent Hampton Roads’ Urban Land Institute meeting. The STAA’s (Surface Transportation Authorization Act) next 6-year plan includes $500 Billion in funding, $50 Billion of which is designated for HSR.

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Attendees were encouraged to participate in the special HRTPO High Speed Rail Meeting on Friday, October 30th from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Surveys collected at the FHR Town Meeting will be submitted to the HRTPO as part of the public comment period. The meeting was ended with this charge to attendees: “we must speak with one voice for Hampton Roads, take the initiative, your opinion makes a difference.”

And from the younger audience members:

At the Town Hall Meeting for High Speed Rail, a live-blogged report by Hannah Seranno and How Your Lunch This Friday Will shape History by Grant Cothran both of AltDaily.com, the hyper-local, independent alternative web magazine for news, arts, and culture in the Hampton Roads area.

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Category: Economy, Military Bastion, Transportation | 2 Comments »
Tags: CSX, Economy, Norfolk, Norfolk Southern, ODU, Rail, Transportation, Virginia Beach

HR Partnership | October 26, 2009

From left to right: City of Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim and Bert Schmidt, President and CEO of WHRO
Photo credit: Jan Johnson, WHRO Public Television and Radio

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim welcomed the StoryCorps Mobile Tour, a revolutionary initiative to record the nation’s heritage in story form, for the first time ever to Hampton Roads on Thursday, October 23rd. Thanks to the Mayor’s efforts, the mobile audio recording booth will be located at the Nauticus Museum in Norfolk. Look for the familiar silver Airstream trailer adjacent to the Town Point Park until mid-November.

Andrew Heidelberg of the infamous “Norfolk 17,” was selected as the first interview. The prestigious selection of the “first interview” goes to an unsung citizen connected to the history of a location, giving the wider audience a “sense of place” for Hampton Roads.

Many military stories are expected as well from local residents, including Bob Doherty, Director of the Hampton Roads Honor Flight Program, whose mission is to honor every World War II veteran by taking them to visit the World War II Memorial in DC and the founders of an organization who saw a DoD need many years ago and filled it with their entrepreneurial spirit, very common in our “Military Bastion” Hampton Roads home.

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Category: About Hampton Roads, HR History, Military Bastion | 2 Comments »
Tags: Military Bastion, Norfolk, StoryCorps, WHRO

HR Partnership | October 25, 2009

What about the east coast and Hampton Roads, Virginia during World War II? Although there was no genuine danger of Japanese bombers crowding our skies, we did face a real threat from the Germans.

Beginning in January 1942, German U-boats attacked merchant shipping from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. It was called Operation “Drumbeat” by the Germans, and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, with its abundant maritime commerce was a prime target. Although, the records indicate that there were never more than about 20 German subs off America at any one time, they managed to sink more than 2.5 million tons of our ships.

Partly it was our own fault, as we naively kept our coasts lit, silhouetting likely target ships for the Germans. We did manage to keep them out of the Bay itself using minefields and submarine nets that were stretched from Cape Charles, on the Eastern Shore, to Cape Henry, in Virginia Beach. Of course, we fought back and eventually we won, but not without losses. From January to June of 1942, almost 400 merchant ships and around 5000 seamen and passengers were lost to German U-boats off the American east coast.

During that time we managed to sink 7 German subs. One of these subs was U-85, sunk off the coast of North Carolina by the destroyer USS Roper on April 14, 1942. The entire crew of U-85 was lost, but the sailors of the Roper recovered 29 German bodies from the Atlantic. The question quickly became what to do with the remains of enemy seamen. It was decided to quietly bury them in the Hampton National Cemetery. Although the burial of German sailors in a U.S. veteran’s cemetery was supposed to have been a secret (the Navy wouldn’t release information about the U-85 until 1963) it was widely known about by the locals.

Over 60 years later, their graves remain in Hampton, and serve as a reminder of another time when America was under attack.

Excerpts reprinted by permission from the Tidewater History Examiner.

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Category: HR History, Military Bastion | No Comments »
Tags: Hampton Roads

HR Partnership | October 24, 2009

The Council on Virginia’s Future works in four areas — strategic vision/roadmap development, assessment, service performance, and productivity improvement — to enhance the state’s effectiveness in making Virginia an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Their development and data support of HamptonRoadsPerforms.org, the first regional performance measuring website in Virginia, has been and continues to be invaluable for assessing and tracking the goals of the Hampton Roads region.

In this the inaugural issue of Virginia Performs’ e-Newsletter, learn about statewide initiatives, such as:

• New Series of Virginia Futures Forums Tackle Priority Issues
• Under Construction: Virginia’s New Performance Budgeting System
• Agency Training on Performance Measures
• News from the Productivity Investment Fund

Subscribe to the Virginia Performs e-News HERE.

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Category: Government & Citizens | No Comments »
Tags: HamptonRoadsPerforms.org, Virginia