Convening

We convene to catalyze change

Our coalition brings public, private, nonprofit, faith, and resident leaders into the same room to co-design solutions—and move from talk to action. That’s how we build a culture of wellness that lasts.

This approach draws on the Collective Impact model: cross-sector coordination around a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone organization. It’s a proven way to tackle complex problems that no single group can solve alone.

Why convening?

Face-to-face convenings create the safe, solution-oriented space people need to share data, align resources, and act. They build capacity and trust across organizations addressing food access, diabetes, hypertension, and the impacts of poverty.

What it looks like

Forums & workgroups: Regular sessions to surface challenges, set shared goals, and assign clear next steps.
Community-first design: Residents and front-line partners shape priorities; leaders commit resources to execution.
Rapid activation: Examples include citywide events (e.g., Back-to-School at Lake Ahoy Shoppes with 400+ attendees) and program launches supported by Rotary, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, and others.

Learning Collaboratives & Workgroups

Prenatal to 5 Coalition

Building Systems That Support Families

Our Prenatal to 5 Coalition brings together healthcare providers, home visitation programs, public health professionals, and community organizations to ensure that mothers and babies receive comprehensive, coordinated care from pregnancy through early childhood.

Collaborative Innovations

Telehealth Monitoring Program. Working with CRH’s Supportive Care Division, the coalition developed a telehealth service for high-risk mothers with hypertension, pre-eclampsia, and eclampsia.
Tiny Triumphs Educational Platform. Coalition partners at CRH’s BirthPlace created an innovative online postpartum education program that integrates with medical records and discharge planning. The program covers safe sleep, feeding, bathing, screenings, and follow-up appointments while connecting mothers to community resources like home visitation programs.
Streamlined Coordination. After discussion, the Maternal Hypertensive Disorders Collaborative merged with the CRH and Home Visitation Partners meeting to reduce meeting burden and improve coordination—a practical example of how workgroups evolve to serve participants more effectively.

Hampton Roads Health Equity Collaborative

Regional Leadership in Dismantling Disparities

Healthy Chesapeake’s Executive Director co-chairs this regional collaborative alongside Dr. Cynthia Romero, bringing together major health systems and public agencies to address systemic health inequities across Hampton Roads.

Collaborative Members:

Chesapeake Regional Healthcare
Riverside Health
Bon Secours Hampton Roads
Sentara Health
Virginia Department of Health
Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association
Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS)

By convening these influential stakeholders, the collaborative is shaping regional policies, practices, and resource allocation to advance equity.

Operation STOP! Opioid Response Collaborative

Targeted Community-Based Solutions

Healthy Chesapeake collaborates with Dr. Bailey and Dr. Shawn Barnwell at Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health on the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority’s Operation STOP! grant application—addressing disproportionately high opioid overdose rates among Black individuals.

The grant requires close partnership between the city and a lead nonprofit already working within affected neighborhoods. Healthy Chesapeake serves in that capacity, bringing deep community relationships and trusted presence to the collaborative response.

Four Grant Objectives Guiding Our Workgroup:

Identify residents at highest risk for overdose, especially those hard to reach through traditional methods
Develop targeted outreach and communications strategies
Implement or expand harm reduction efforts
Expand treatment and recovery support services

This collaborative model recognizes that effective intervention requires organizations already embedded in communities, working alongside healthcare and government partners with complementary expertise and resources.

South Norfolk Revitalization Commission

Neighborhood-Level Planning and Action

The Executive Director presents regularly at South Norfolk Revitalization Commission meetings, ensuring Healthy Chesapeake’s work aligns with broader neighborhood revitalization efforts and community priorities.

These meetings create direct referral pathways—after one presentation, an attendee asked for help connecting a friend to healthcare, resulting in referrals to both the Mobile Medical Clinic and The HUB. This demonstrates how neighborhood-level collaboratives translate awareness into action.

Join a Collaborative

Opportunities for Engagement

Our learning collaboratives and workgroups welcome new partners who share our commitment to improving community health and wellbeing. Whether you represent a healthcare organization, community nonprofit, faith community, business, or government agency, your expertise and perspective can strengthen our collective impact.

Current opportunities for collaborative engagement include: