Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund launches with grants for Hampton Roads
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The new Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund program launched with more than $9.7 million in grants for 12 projects throughout the state, former Gov. Ralph Northam announced Jan. 13.
The fund, developed by the Department of Housing and Community Development, expands access to capital and technical assistance for small businesses adversely or disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release. The General Assembly had allocated $10 million in fiscal year 2022 to establish a special fund to provide grants to community development financial institutions or enterprises that provide financing to small businesses.
The state resiliency fund is granting $1.5 million to Local Initiatives Support Corp.’s Small Business Capital Access Fund serving Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach along with Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg. The regional access fund is designed to provide $10,000-$50,000 recoverable grants with no interest or fees with priority given to minority-, woman-, veteran- and immigrant-owned small businesses. The state funding will expand the program’s capacity through contracted business coaches to help 60 small businesses.
Additionally, the state is granting $1.5 million to Virginia Community Capital’s Economic Equity Fund Initiative to provide low-cost financing for 15 or more small-, women-, and minority-owned businesses while expanding its loan loss reserve and building internal capacity by hiring a technical assistance provider for clients and borrowers.
The state fund is providing $555,000 to Foodshed Capital to expand microlending and small business lending to Virginia farms and food businesses, particularly with the goal of ensuring long-term food security for local food systems in the wake of COVID-19. The project will leverage $750,000 in loans to help 74 food businesses.
The state is also providing $589,180 to the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project Inc., serving numerous rural counties including Gloucester, Franklin, Isle of Wight, Mathews and Surry. The money will increase its available loan capital with the rural fund deploying $665,000 in microloans to more than 40 businesses.
