Toward the end of his term in office, Gov. Ralph Northam announced the launch of the Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund program, with more than $9.7 million in grants for a dozen projects.
The funding will assist organizations to create programs and products that will expand access to capital and provide technical assistance for COVID-19 impacted small businesses.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the Virginia economy and the bedrock of our communities,” said Northam. “These grants will provide needed support to our businesses to face the challenges of the pandemic. In addition to its tremendous work supporting affordable housing, community development, and other priorities, DHCD has led our programs to keep people in their homes and support small businesses during the pandemic. I want to thank DHCD Director Erik Johnson for his superb leadership of the agency, especially during the past 22 months. He has led an outstanding and creative team in finding innovative ways to help people during a challenging time.”
The Department of Housing and Community Development developed the Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund with the purpose of supporting Virginia-based community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to build their capacity and increase economic activity in distressed communities throughout the Commonwealth. VSBRF goals include serving small businesses adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on those sectors which have been disproportionately impacted or have been economically disadvantaged. In addition, this program is expected to increase economic activity in distressed communities around the Commonwealth and to increase the capacity of the CDFI sector to serve those target markers in Virginia.
The General Assembly allocated $10,000,000 in FY2022 to establish a special, non-reverting fund that would provide grants to CDFIs, community development enterprises, or other such similar entities as permitted by law, whose primary purpose is to provide financing to small businesses in Virginia. CDFIs are private financial institutions certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury to deliver responsible, affordable financing to historically underbanked and underserved people, small businesses, and communities.
“Access to capital remains a challenge for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said former Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. “This funding will help meet the needs of and provide services to underserved businesses so they can thrive in their communities.”
Bland County is among the localities in line for $1.5 million from the Freedom First Federal Credit Union’s Small Business Fund. The money will be deployed in small and microloans to establish a loan loss reserve and an Individual Development Account program for business purposes with a focus on small loans and women, minority and/or immigrant owned businesses in distressed communities.
Bland, Smyth and Wythe are part of the $589,180 fund called the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project’s Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund. SERCAP will inrease its available laon capital to underserved businesses in rural areas, providing $150,000 in technical assitance to microenterprises, hand out $665,000 in microloans to more than 40 businesses and use $100,000 for staff administration.
Another $100,000 will be used by the Building Capacity for CDFIs to support underserved businesses in Appalachian Virginia. The Appalachian Community Capital Corporation will build a support network for minority and immigrant owned small businesses in the region.
