Three-year grant from The Anne Mullen Orrell Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee will support CMO’s work to expand career opportunities and meet community healthcare needs on Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula
Claude Moore Opportunities, a leading healthcare workforce development charity in Virginia, announced today that it has received a major $300,000 gift from The Anne Mullen Orrell Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee to support its ongoing efforts to address Virginia’s healthcare workforce shortage with a specific focus on medically underserved communities in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.
To create more healthcare career opportunities and better meet the region’s healthcare needs, Claude Moore will use this gift and its own funds to support 1) a regional healthcare workforce development coordinator working out of the Bay Consortium Region Workforce Development Board, and 2) the establishment of a new Behavioral Health Technician Assistant program in partnership with Rappahannock Community College. The program will be modeled on the successful creation of a similar program at nearby Germanna Community College.
“This incredibly generous gift will allow Claude Moore Opportunities to expand our work to meet Virginia’s healthcare needs while creating family-sustaining career opportunities in healthcare,” said Dr. Bill Hazel, CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities. “Claude Moore has been a longstanding and productive partner with this region of Virginia. We have provided funding to upgrade labs and classroom space at Rappahannock Community College and supported training and education programs in both high schools and community colleges to grow the region’s workforce. Thanks to support from the Anne Mullen Orrell Charitable Trust and others, we will expand these efforts with a coordinated regional focus to create career pathways, promote regional collaboration, and address the region’s healthcare workforce needs.”
This significant gift will allow Claude Moore to expand its longstanding presence in GO Virginia Region 6 which includes the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. Fourteen of the region’s sixteen localities are federally designated as “medically underserved,” and a recent analysis found a significant shortfall of Certified Nursing Assistants and Certified Medical Assistants in the region.
Since its founding in 2024, Claude Moore Opportunities has raised more than $1.1 million and distributed nearly than $275,000 in charitable funds to create more pathways into good paying healthcare careers and to meet Virginia’s healthcare workforce needs.
This is the organization’s second largest private foundation gift, behind only a $413,000 contribution from Virginia Ready.
Notable achievements during CMO’s first year include the launch of a new veterans healthcare workforce initiative, creation and implementation of a regional roadmap for healthcare job creation, and more than $100,000 in healthcare training equipment and supplies to K-12 school systems and community colleges.
About Claude Moore Opportunities
Launched in 2024, Claude Moore Opportunities is a new 501(c)3 public nonprofit organization that will raise and distribute philanthropic funds to support regional and collaborative efforts to expand Virginia’s healthcare workforce and create family-sustaining career opportunities. The independent organization is led by CEO Dr. Bill Hazel, Jr., former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources, and governed by an executive board of notable civic, philanthropic, and healthcare leaders from around Virginia. Claude Moore Opportunities is building on the 20 years of healthcare workforce development efforts by the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, which has invested more than $24 million to enable thousands of Virginians to receive healthcare workforce training and credentials through strategic partnerships with public school systems around the state, the Virginia Community College System, George Mason University, INOVA Health System, the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and the Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Science Careers, among others.
