For 20 Virginia Beach teenagers aboard an education boat on the Lynnhaven River, the big moment arrived when they hauled in the trawl net. Lined along the boat’s gunnel, the Ocean Lakes High School students pulled on the lines together.

Shouts of excitement rang out when the net came aboard and creatures emerged from beneath the river’s surface — female blue crabs laden with orange eggs, a windowpane flounder speckled with spots, white shrimp as big as your hand, sea robins that glide with winglike fins, and a tiny writhing sea slug.

The experience last April brought to life what the students had been taught in the classroom. It also came at a pivotal time.

Hands-on learning is needed now more than ever. Students today must sort through the overload of information readily available through technology, learning how to make the most of the digital age’s abundance of content.

We’ve seen plenty of change since the Chesapeake Bay Foundation started its environmental education program 50 years ago. In the 1970s, there was skepticism from teachers and administrators who believed learning should take place only in the classroom, not on the water. But these same educators often became believers after a boatload of students returned to school with rekindled enthusiasm.

Now there’s a growing recognition that learning through experience prepares students for success in the information age. Memorizing facts has less value when you can look up anything online. Critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity are widely touted as the skills needed for the 21st century.  Studies show that these abilities flourish when students perform hands-on activities outside.

Back on the Lynnhaven, after unloading the net high schoolers huddled around containers full of river water, flashy scales and flapping fins.

As a small squid jetted about in circles, student Liliann Bond reached out. The squid’s suction cups gently latched onto her finger. “It was definitely slimy and weird. But it was also really cool,” she said.

Earlier that day, students split into groups to test indicators of the health of the river. They measured water temperature, tested for dissolved oxygen levels and nutrient pollution, and assessed water clarity in this stretch of the river.

After reporting their findings, each student created a hypothesis as to how many different species of plants and animals the trawl net would capture. A greater diversity of life suggests a healthier river. Altogether, they recorded 18 different species — a promising sign for the Lynnhaven.

There is no substitute for learning through experience. Nothing fosters critical thinking like interpreting water quality data in the field. Nothing builds collaboration like hauling in a trawl together net with your classmates. And nothing sparks creativity and curiosity quite like the slimy tug of a squid.

Since starting our education program in 1973, about 1.5 million people have learned outside with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. We’ve seen a promising growth of environmental education efforts in many Hampton Roads schools, as well as organizations across the region.

Strong collaborations with school districts ensure these experiences complement what’s taught in the classroom. That includes efforts to work with Virginia Beach and Newport News schools on climate change education. The newly established Southeastern Virginia Environmental Education Consortium aims to promote systemic and sustained environmental literacy efforts in Hampton Roads.

Currently, about 10,000 Virginia students join us on environmental education experiences annually. Teachers take our professional development summer courses. High schoolers go on week-long overnight student leadership expeditions down Virginia’s rivers and to the Bay’s islands. New student leaders, parents and teachers can always register for an environmental education experience.

As we look to the next 50 years, we must ensure all students have access to high-quality environmental education. But Virginia’s investment in environmental education still falls short of what is needed. Increasing state support is an important next step.

Learning outside is much more than a breath of fresh air in an era of screen time stagnation. It’s what the next generation needs to tackle local issues and complex global challenges like climate change.

Tom Ackerman is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s vice president for education. Email him at [email protected]. 

The Kecoughtan boys came into the Class 5 state track and field meet on Saturday convinced it could win the program’s first state title.

“We felt we could win because coach told us we could,” said Kecoughtan thrower David Anderson, who won the shot and discus.

Warriors coach Deon More was right as Kecougthan put together a team effort to bring home the state title.

The Warriors clinched it by winning the 4×400 relay — the last event of the meet.

“We had the No. 1 time coming in,” said junior Jaymes Saunders, who ran on the victorious relay along with JuhaSaun Credle, Ahmik Allen and Daniel Danner. “We just had to stick to it and stay No.1, and that’s what we did.”

Saunders had an incredible meet that saw him set four personal-best records. He finished second in the high jump, and third in the triple jump, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles.

“I did the same thing at regionals, so I already knew what I was coming into and how the pain was going to be,” he said. “I just had to do the same thing. This is even better. We made history. That’s what we came to do. And that’s what we did.”

Anderson, an All-Tidewater lineman who will play football at Duke in the fall, won the shot with a throw of 59 feet, 8 inches. He also won the discus with a throw of 169-5.

In Class 6, Western Branch’s boys finished runner-up to Patriot High by just seven points. The Bruins were led by hurdlers Antonio Smith and Micah Hinton, who finished first and third, respectively, in the 300 hurdles. Smith also finished second in the 110 hurdles and Hinton was third.

Oscar Smith finished fourth. Jamiel Bowers led the Tigers by winning the 110 hurdles in 14.17 and Alvin Jones was runner-up in the 100 meters. Jones — along with Jahmari Deloatch, Jeryll Gaines and Elisha Dozier — also won the 4×100 relay.

On the girls side, Grassfield finished runner-up to South County in Class 6. The Grizzlies were led by freshman Sophie Rambo, who won the 400 meters in 55.23. She also placed seventh in the 200. Thrower Morgan Graham set a meet record in the discus with a throw of 159-8.

Oscar Smith finished third. The Tigers were led by freshman hurdler Shakayla Lavender, who won the 110 hurdles in 13.88 and the 300 hurdles in 43.17. The Tigers also were victorious in 4×100 relay. Kennedy Chapman, Nadia Jacobs, Jada Starks and Tyra Price were on that team.

Western Branch, led by Llyric Driscoll, was fourth. Driscoll won the triple jump (42-7 1/2), was second in the long jump and fourth in both the 100 hurdles and discus.

In Class 5, Glen Allen won the team title. Nansemond River finished third and was led by senior Nyah Harrison, who won the 400 in 55.22 and finished runner-up in the 200.

Norview senior Jaydin Williams set a meet record in the high jump as he cleared 7-0. He is one of only 20 high school athletes in the country to clear that height this season.

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, [email protected]. Twitter @LHRubama

More than two years since officials at Old Dominion University and Eastern Virginia Medical School signed an agreement to work toward an eventual merger, the integration of these influential Hampton Roads institutions is closer than ever — a growing certainty rather than a fleeting dream.

The resulting entity promises to be a game-changer for the region and the commonwealth, with the potential to prepare future generations of medical professions and bring its intellectual heft to bear on the chronic and persistent health issues here.

The General Assembly can advance that process this month by accepting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s request of $10 million in the state budget designated for the merger. While there are plenty of items that may divide the region’s legislative delegation, this is one that should have the full-throated support of local lawmakers given its importance to Hampton Roads’ future.

EVMS’ mission to improve health care in southeast Virginia has been clear since its founding in the late 1960s. So many aspects of the school’s development were rooted in this cause, from its focus on educating family practitioners due to a shortage of local physicians to the work of researchers studying the health trends and acute problems faced by residents here.

The value of EVMS is unquestioned. But it occupies strange terrain in the commonwealth’s higher education landscape by nature of its independence from other state schools, and is an outlier among medical schools in that it does not own or operate its own hospital.

Instead, EVMS relies heavily on funding from Sentara Healthcare, which increased its annual support of the school in 2018 from $9 million annually to $26 million through this year. That relationship served both institutions well, but made securing state and federal funding a challenge. The pandemic made those issues more glaring.

So the question for all involved, from school administrators to state officials to students and the larger community, was how to ensure the long-term viability of EVMS and its critical work in Hampton Roads.

In 2020, the entities — ODU. EVMS and Sentara — along with state officials and organizations such as Reinvent Hampton Roads wrestled with how best to meet those goals in a way that bolsters the mission to raise the level of health care across the region and demonstrate responsible stewardship of public funding. There was friction in that process, as to be expected, but it helped move things forward.

Two major milestones come in the following year.

In August 2021, officials from ODU, EVMS and Norfolk State University reached an agreement to create a School of Public Health, the commonwealth’s first, to address health inequities, improve care for underserved populations, and offer post-graduate degrees for the next generation of medical leaders. The inclusion of NSU was an important show of regional cooperation that will strengthen the initiative.

And in December 2021, ODU, EVMS and Sentara signed a memorandum of understanding that pledged work toward greater integration and alignment of their efforts. The agreement proposed a new health sciences center that would offer the largest number of health degree programs in Virginia.

The governor provided the next piece of the puzzle in December when he requested $10 million in the state budget to facilitate the EVMS-ODU merger. Youngkin included a timeline that would see the revamped Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Center at Old Dominion University formally launched next year.

His support is greatly appreciated. Not only will a streamlined EVMS-ODU institution help address Hampton Roads’ woeful health statistics in areas such as infant mortality and heart disease more than justify the expense, but it would be a benefit to the larger commonwealth and a powerful economic development tool for this region.

Now it’s up to lawmakers, who can dramatically improve the health care outlook in Hampton Roads. This is an initiative with tremendous promise, and an opportunity Virginia must not squander.

Cortney Marquette and Wesley Crummett walked along the water Saturday at Outlook Beach with a neon orange bucket, their eyes scanning the sand and surf for trash.

At first glance, the small Hampton beach — located within Fort Monroe — doesn’t look dirty, but the two friends said it didn’t take long to spot single-use plastics and other odds-and-ends.

“There’s a straw, a receipt, some type of Styrofoam thing, a zip-lock bag, a 7-Eleven cup and a lot of cigarette butts,” said Marquette, as she ruffled around in the bucket. “I’m surprised we got this much so far.”

Crummett and Marquette were among roughly 3,600 registered volunteers helping with Clean the Bay Day, an annual statewide event organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Volunteers gathered along rivers, streams and beaches throughout the state to collect litter and other types of trash. Since its start in 1989, the foundation reports the event has removed about 7.18 million pounds of debris from more than 8,250 miles of shoreline.

“It’s just a day to physically connect and say we’re going to show a little bit of tender loving care for our waterways,” said Christy Everett, the foundation’s Hampton Roads director. “We just don’t always take the time to think about our waterways, but our waterways are so important to this region and economy.”

The Chesapeake Bay received a D-plus rating in the foundation’s State of the Bay report this year. The report measures the bay’s health by looking at pollution, habitats and fisheries. The low grade stems from ongoing problems with farm pollution and declining species, like the blue crab.

Everett said many residents may not even know what they do on land directly impacts the watershed.

“I don’t think most people realize that what happens at a McDonalds 10 miles away (from water) is going to end up in our waterways,” she said. “We need to understand that any litter that ends up on the ground, as it rains it’s going to be carried through a stormwater pipe and then into a local creek or stream.”

Plastic items and cigarette butts tend to be the most common debris, she said, but volunteers have found some unusual items — like a safe and firearms — over the years.

A preliminary statewide count on Saturday afternoon recorded 97,000 pounds of trash were collected at this year’s event. Some notable items: a carburetor, mini dirt bike, plastic hippopotamus and a ship’s bumper. A count for the volunteers at Fort Monroe was not available.

In addition to picking up trash and raising awareness, Everett said events like Clean the Bay are helpful because it shows how individuals can come together and make a meaningful difference for the environment.

“There are people all over Virginia today who are taking the time to show how much they care and appreciate our waterways,” she said. “It is really inspiring to see people give up their time on a Saturday morning and a beautiful summer day and spend time cleaning up and giving back.”

She added that a handful of legislators registered to participate at various sites throughout the state.

On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, shared a photo of herself collecting trash with a group in Virginia Beach.

“I joined (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) and a great group of volunteers in Virginia Beach to help clean up,” she wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to everyone who volunteered for taking care of our environment!”

The idea of forming an annual winner-take-all $1 million tournament has spread from basketball to soccer, and a few players with local ties have been a factor.

Organized by many of the same folks that made The Basketball Tournament an annual event on the American calendar, The Soccer Tournament is going on this weekend in Cary, North Carolina, one of America’s soccer hotbeds.

The 32-team, 7-on-7 TST began with group play to set up a 16-squad elimination bracket. The championship match is at 3 p.m. Sunday on CNBC.

TBT employs the Elam Ending, where a target score is set after the end of timed play. Each game must end on a basket, whether it’s a field goal or free throw.

TST is similar. After 40 minutes of play, the target score is set — one more goal than the leading team’s current total. For example, if Team A leads 6-4 as the clock expires, the first team to 7 will win the match.

Former William & Mary players Marcel Berry and William Eskay have been key contributors for Newtown Pride FC, a team based in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, that reached Saturday night’s semifinals.

What a walk-off for Newtown Pride FC!

📺 @TST7v7 and @peacock pic.twitter.com/D8x4ZooRK6

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 3, 2023

Ex-Old Dominion and Major League Soccer defender Alex DeJohn is playing for Conrad & Beasley United, which advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals. That team was formed by former U.S. national team players Jimmy Conrad and DaMarcus Beasley.

The Virginia Dream squad included numerous players with UVA connections, but didn’t advance from the group stage.

‘Czech’ this out: While his alma mater, Gloucester High, gained a surprising state baseball tournament berth, Brett Lindsay has become one of the top players in the Czech Republic.

He is batting .360 with five doubles, a triple and two home runs for the Jablonec Blesk team. The Blesk tied for second place in the league’s first phase, gaining one of four spots in the “Extra League Superstructure” phase. The top two teams in that phase will gain promotion to the Extra League, the nation’s top pro league.

The former Eastern Mennonite All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference shortstop, who played in college from 2018-22, is tied for the league lead with 17 RBIs and is second with 22 hits. The Czech season will continue through much of October.

Warrior Games Challenge: Christopher Ratliff of Virginia Beach is among more than 250 seriously wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans at the Department of Defense Warrior Games Challenge, which began Friday and run through June 12 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

Ratliff, an Aviation Electronics Technician Airman in the U.S. Navy, will be competing against athletes from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force and U.S. Special Operations Command. He will take part in cycling, field events and sitting volleyball.

“Participating in the Warrior Games is a way to be active despite my limitations,” Ratliff said in a report by the Navy Office of Community Outreach’s Rick Burke.

ODU Community Day: Old Dominion’s men’s basketball program announced that it will host its first Community Day on June 17 from noon to 3 p.m.

The activities to be announced will be hosted at Menchville High in Newport News, the alma mater of Monarchs third-team All-Sun Belt player Chaunce Jenkins.

___

What’s coming up

Wednesday: Virginia Beach United welcomes Christos FC of Baltimore to Virginia Beach Sportsplex for a USL League Two match at 7 p.m.

Thursday: The Peninsula Pilots are at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton to face their newest key Coastal Plain League baseball rival, the Tri-City Chili Peppers at 7:05 p.m.

Saturday: The Pilots play host to the Wilson Tobs at 7:05 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium. … The Heritage Humane Society FURever Homes Runs, including 8- and 5-kilometer events, are based at Jamestown High and are part of the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix. The day starts with a 1-mile fun run at 8 a.m.

By CHRIS MEGERIAN (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Saturday that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt.

It was a decidedly low-key denouement to a monthslong drama that unnerved financial markets at home and abroad and caused anxious retirees and social service organization to make contingency plans in case the country was unable to pay all its bills.

Instead of holding a public ceremony with lawmakers from both parties — showcasing the bipartisanship that Biden had cited in an Oval Office address on Friday evening — the president signed the legislation in private in a reflection of the tight deadline facing the nation’s leaders.

The Treasury Department had warned that the country would start running short of cash on Monday, which would have sent shockwaves through the U.S. and global economies.

The White House released a picture of the president signing the legislation at the Resolute Desk. In a brief statement, Biden thanked Democratic and Republican congressional leaders for their partnership, a cordial message that contrasted with the rancor that initially characterized the debt debate.

The standoff began when Republicans refused to raise the country’s borrowing limit unless Democrats agreed to cut spending. Eventually, the White House began weeks of intense negotiations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to reach a deal.

The final agreement, passed by the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, suspends the debt limit until 2025 — after the next presidential election — and restricts government spending. It gives lawmakers budget targets for the next two years in hopes of assuring fiscal stability as the political season heats up.

Raising the nation’s debt limit, now at $31.4 trillion, will ensure that the government can borrow to pay debts already incurred.

After Congress passed the legislation, Biden used the occasion to deliver his first speech from the Oval Office as president on Friday.

“No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,” he said, highlighting the “compromise and consensus” in the deal. “We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse.”

Biden touted the achievements of his first term as he runs for reelection, including support for high-tech manufacturing, infrastructure investments and financial incentives for fighting climate change. He also highlighted ways he blunted Republican efforts to roll back his agenda and achieve deeper cuts.

“We’re cutting spending and bringing deficits down at the same time,” Biden said. “We’re protecting important priorities from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid to veterans to our transformational investments in infrastructure and clean energy.”

Biden’s remarks were the most detailed comments from the Democratic president on the compromise he and his staff negotiated. He largely remained quiet publicly during the high-stakes talks, a decision that frustrated some members of his party but was intended to give space for both sides to reach a deal and for lawmakers to vote it to his desk.

Biden praised McCarthy and his negotiators for operating in good faith, and all congressional leaders for ensuring swift passage of the legislation. “They acted responsibly, and put the good of the country ahead of politics,” he said.

In addition to restrictions on spending, the 99-page bill changes some policies, including imposing new work requirements for older Americans receiving food aid and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas pipeline that many Democrats oppose. Some environmental rules were modified to help streamline approvals for infrastructure and energy projects — a move long sought by moderates in Congress.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation could actually expand total eligibility for federal food assistance, with the elimination of work requirements for veterans, homeless people and young people leaving foster care.

The legislation also bolsters funds for defense and veterans, cuts back some new money for the Internal Revenue Service and rejects Biden’s call to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and the wealthy to help cover the nation’s deficits. But the White House said the IRS’ plans to step up enforcement of tax laws for high-income earners and corporations would continue.

The agreement imposes an automatic overall 1% cut to spending programs if Congress fails to approve its annual spending bills — a measure designed to pressure lawmakers of both parties to reach consensus before the end of the fiscal year in September.

In both chambers, more Democrats backed the legislation than Republicans, but both parties were critical to its passage. In the Senate the tally was 63-36 including 46 Democrats and independents and 17 Republicans in favor, 31 Republicans along with four Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats opposed.

The vote in the House was 314-117.

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

By MAURICIO MUÑOZ and GABRIELA MOLINA (Associated Press)

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The chief suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway is being transferred to a prison near Peru’s capital ahead of his pending extradition to the United States to face charges linked to her vanishing, officials said Saturday.

The government of Peru, where Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot was serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman, authorized his extradition to the U.S. in May.

Máximo Altez, van del Sloot’s lawyer, said is client was being taken by land from the Challapalca prison in Peru’s southern Andes to the Piedras Gordas prison on the outskirts of Lima.

“In the coming days, the INPE (National Penitentiary Institute) will hand over the condemned man to Interpol Peru with the goal of handing him over to U.S. authorities from the FBI,” said a statement from the INPE released Saturday.

Altez said that once the bureaucratic procedures are completed and van der Sloot is given a medical exam, his client will be transferred to the U.S. He estimated the extradition could take place on Tuesday, but Peruvian officials did not confirm this day.

Van der Sloot has agreed to be sent to the United States where he faces trial for alleged extortion and wire fraud charges linked to the Holloway case, his lawyer said.

When asked by the Associated Press why his client agreed, the lawyer responded: “He is imprisoned in the worst prison in the world,” referring the maximum-security Challapalca prison.

“Any prison in the United States is a five-star hotel” in comparison, he said.

Altez said that, according to the treaty between Peru and the United States, van der Sloot is being extradited to the U.S. temporarily for one year to face legal proceedings and in the event of a delay, this period can be extended for another year.

“At the end of this, he has to be returned to Peru,” Altez said. He will spend “at most two years in the United States.”

Altez said his client denies being guilty of the crimes of extortion and fraud.

Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen during a trip with classmates to the Caribbean island of Aruba. She vanished after a night with friends at a nightclub, leaving a mystery that sparked years of news coverage and countless true-crime podcasts. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, who was a student at an international school on the island.

Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained weeks later, along with two Surinamese brothers. Holloway’s body was never found, and no charges were filed in the case. A judge later declared Holloway dead.

The federal charges filed in Alabama against van der Sloot stem from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway family in 2010, promising to lead them to her body in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars. A grand jury indicted him that year on one count each of wire fraud and extortion, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Also in 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was killed five years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance.

Peruvian prosecutors accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met. They said he killed her with “ferocity” and “cruelty,” beating then strangling her in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.

Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 in a ceremony at a maximum security prison. He has been transferred from prisons in response to reports that he enjoyed privileges such as television, internet access and a cellphone, and accusations that he had threatened to kill a warden.

A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. It requires that the prisoner “be returned” after judicial proceedings are concluded “against that person, in accordance with conditions to be determined by” both countries.

More than 100 homes were damaged by the April 30 tornado that touched down in Virginia Beach, and much of the debris ended up on the beaches of First Landing State Park.

On May 21, about 70 volunteers spent the day collecting more than 12,000 pounds of various housing materials.

Some of the items included a portion of a wooden dock, refrigerator, shingles, patio furniture, cushions, a jon boat, a hot tub, and fencing, according to First Landing Volunteer Coordinator Tanya Wisoker, who organized the cleanup.

“There were so many shingles, we could have built a couple houses,” said volunteer Diane Haupt, who runs several times a week on the park’s trails.

Volunteers said they were emotionally moved by the holiday ornaments and stuffed animals that washed up on the beaches.

Wisoker started planning for the event about a week after the storm. Her checklist included coordinating with the city, marking off the area for the work to be done, assigning a group of the park’s volunteers to staff a table, and confirming details with private boat owners.

“We really didn’t have a means to collect the debris, so the volunteers deserve all the credit,” Wisoker said. “People keep telling me how good the beaches look now. That’s thanks to all our amazing volunteers.”

Five private boats assisted in the cleanup. Volunteers began working shortly after 7 a.m. on the cool, cloudy day. Some walked along the beach or waded out into the water, putting smaller pieces into garbage bags and collecting large items into piles to be hauled away by boat. Others worked unloading debris as boats came ashore at the Narrows at 64th Street.

By noon, six tons of debris had been unloaded, stretching across the parking lot and enough to fill three Public Works dump trucks.

A number of businesses provided snacks, transportation, T-shirts and music.

The worst storm damage was in the Chelsea neighborhood, across Broad Bay from First Landing. A gaping hole in the tree canopy on Long Creek Trail marks the spot where the tornado made landfall in the park.

For debris in the water, it was a short distance to the park’s western and southern facing beaches. But not everything washed ashore. The 145 mph winds dropped shingles and housing materials onto Cape Henry and Osmanthus trails, in the interior of the park.

“The cleanup was so well organized,” Haupt said. “I helped because it just wasn’t safe with all the wood and nails on the beach. But mostly I did it because I love the park.”

Eric Hodies, [email protected]

Virginia Natural Gas recently committed $250,000 to assist local nonprofit ForKids in opening two Financial Opportunity Centers in Chesapeake and Suffolk.

The centers will help low-to-moderate income families in securing financial stability through workshops and coaching. Families will learn to build effective money habits and achieve their career, financial and personal goals. ForKids plans to hire four coaches for these FOCs and assist 100 participants a year.

“Virginia Natural Gas is thankful of our long-standing relationship with ForKids and grateful for the work that they are doing to improve lives in our community,” Robert Duvall, president of Virginia Natural Gas, said in a news release. “Our hope is that these Financial Opportunity Centers will help Hampton Roads residents achieve their career, financial and personal goals.”

According to Thaler McCormick, ForKids CEO, the centers are a collaboration between LISC Hampton Roads, who also provided a $300,000 grant, and Virginia Natural Gas, to “help break the cycle of poverty and help to create opportunity for families to achieve greater economic self-sufficiency.”

“ForKids’ mission is breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty. For too long all our resources have gone to addressing homelessness. The opening of the Financial Opportunity Centers in Chesapeake and Suffolk gives meaningful tools to lift families out of poverty,” said McCormick. “We are grateful to LISC Hampton Roads and Virginia Natural Gas for believing in our work and investing in this community.”

ForKids is one of the largest providers of services to families experiencing homelessness and poverty in Virginia. The ForKids Housing Crisis Hotline, which serves 14 cities and counties in Hampton Roads, is the central point of contact for all persons experiencing a housing crisis throughout Southeastern Virginia.

On any given day, ForKids in-depth programs assist approximately 290 families including 870 children and provides critical services to more than 70,000 individuals each year.