Updates from the Office of Economic Development

OED Announces Recovery Roadmap: A Plan for Business Recovery in Charlottesville

The Office of Economic Development will be engaging the business community in a recovery planning effort this spring. The City Council has indicated that economic recovery of local businesses from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is a top near-term priority. OED is now seeking broad participation from City business owners that will help inform a series of immediate action items that the City can pursue to assist with recovery. We will begin this process by convening a group of stakeholders for facilitated conversations on March 17^th and 18^th. Please join us to ensure your voice is heard. Advance registration is required. To register, click HERE.

Administration Promotes Equitable Access to SBA Relief

President Biden announced changes to the SBA’s coronavirus relief program. The changes will establish a 14-day, exclusive PPP loan application period for businesses and nonprofits with less than 20 employees. SBA also announced four additional changes to open PPP to underserved small businesses. SBA will:

• Allow sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals to receive more financial support by revising the PPP’s funding formula for these categories of applicants;
• Eliminate an exclusionary restriction on PPP access for small business owners with prior non-fraud felony convictions, consistent with a bipartisan congressional proposal; 
• Eliminate PPP access restrictions on small business owners who have struggled to make student loan payments by eliminating student loan debt delinquency as a disqualifier to participating in the PPP; and
• Ensure access for non-citizen small business owners who are lawful U.S. residents by clarifying that they may use Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to apply for the PPP.

A goal from Congress is to reach small and low-and-moderate-income businesses who have not received these funds. For more information on the changes, you can read it HERE.

New Changes to City of Charlottesville Vendor Registration System

The City of Charlottesville Division of Procurement and Risk Management, with the help of the IT Department, have now made a critical change to the City’s vendor registration. Applicable businesses are now able to self-certify as a small, woman-, and/or minority-owned without having an actual certification from the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity. This change is critical to capturing accurate representations of the City’s spend with various businesses within the Charlottesville community. If you are a registered vendor with the City and would like to self-designate any of the abovementioned types of ownership, please CLICK HERE to log into your account. If you are not a registered vendor with the City and would like to become one, please CLICK HERE. For questions about this new addition, please call Procurement and Risk Management at 434-970-3860.

OED to Begin Recovery Planning Effort

The Office of Economic Development will be engaging the business community in a recovery planning effort this spring. As indicated at a December work session, the City Council supported economic recovery of local businesses from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as a top near-term priority for the council. Since then, OED has been planning their efforts and are seeking broad participation from City business owners that will help inform a series of immediate action items that the City can pursue to assist with recovery. To begin the process, we would like to request your assistance with a short survey. The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete and will help us establish an understanding of current conditions as we embark on recovery planning. To begin the survey, click HERE.

Upcoming Webinars from CVSBDC

CV SBDC is a team of business and technical experts available to listen, advise and assist entrepreneurs, confidentially and free of charge. They offer 1:1 assistance, connection to curated research, access to technical experts and professionals, and timely events and training.