Fourth Round BRACE Grant Offered to Assist City Businesses
The Office of Economic Development is excited to offer a fourth round of the Building Resilience Among Charlottesville Entrepreneurs (BRACE) Grant. This program is a matching, reimbursable grant of up to $2,500 (for new recipients) or $1,250 (for previous recipients) to help offset qualifying expenses incurred by City businesses. The business is required to provide a 30% match for the City’s contribution. The applicant must be for-profit business or a non-profit organization that is focused on hospitality, tourism, or supporting economic development/business causes. Businesses must be located inside the City limits. Applications will be accepted from August 15, 2022 at 9:00 AM until September 2, 2022 at 5:00 PM. Expenses incurred between May 1, 2022 and September 2, 2022 are eligible. Interested businesses can learn more and apply here.
Clarion Pointe Hotel Holds Ribbon Cutting
Clarion Pointe Hotel held a ribbon cutting on August 27th to celebrate their grand opening! The newly-renovated hotel, located on U.S. 29-S in between U.S. 250 and Hydraulic Road, offers great amenities and a convenient location for Charlottesville visitors. To see pictures from the event, make sure to check out the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s blog!
OED Fun Fact
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Central Virginia is the operator of the oldest Pepsi-Cola bottling franchise in the United States. PCVA has been manufacturing Pepsi products from its city-based bottling facility since 1908. Cheers!
Minority Business Commission Vacancy
The Minority Business Commission advises the council and staff on efforts to promote the startup and expansion of existing minority-owned businesses and to increase procurement opportunities for minority-owned businesses. If you know of anyone who may be interested in applying or who would make a great candidate, please encourage them to apply. Click here for the application to apply. To be eligible you must live or work in the City of Charlottesville or Albemarle County throughout the appointed term.
Region Ten & Downtown Job Center at Friendship Court
The Downtown Job Center in partnership with Region Ten’s Community Based Peer Services will host a Community Connections event at Friendship Court on Friday, July 29
th from 3pm to 5pm. The event will help ensure that residents receive updated information concerning both community resources and mental health resources. Local community agencies onsite will include services for the aging, reentry population, health care needs, local ministries, education and training opportunities and job services. This event is open to the public. For more information on this fun event, please contact Roy Fitch at 434-970-3959 or
fitchrl@charlottesville.gov.
Intro to Selling to Virginia - August 10th
Kimberly Brewer, eVA Marketing & Outreach Manager will be presenting this session, giving an overview of the Commonwealth’s purchasing process, including purchasing policies that affect how buyers use the eVA system to “shop” and the eVA tools used by the buying community. Participants will receive an eVA website tour and discuss tools & resources every business should know about if they’re interested in selling to Virginia. Assistance becoming an eVA registered Vendor will also be provided.
REGISTERUpcoming 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.
Marketing Monday: Facebook Ads Tips & Tricks – August 1
st at 12:00 pm
PREREGISTERMarketing, Sales and Your Brand – August 3
rd at 10:00 am
PREREGISTERBusiness Models, Tell Your Story and Risk Planning – August 10
th at 10:00 am
PREREGISTERMoney and Recordkeeping – August 17
th at 10:00 am
PREREGISTER