VIRGINIA GAZETTE | Public-private partnership relief fund aims to help Williamsburg-area small businesses

It started with $10,000.

By its launch day Monday, a new partnership to help struggling small businesses in the Greater Williamsburg area had raised $33,500 to offset the pain of the COVID-19 crisis. The partners hope that’s just the beginning.

The nonprofit Virginia 30 Day Fund, the Greater Williamsburg Partnership and the Williamsburg Community Foundation joined forces to launch a new public-private partnership relief fund to support small businesses at a news conference Monday.

Von Gilbreath, director of the Greater Williamsburg Partnership, said the Williamsburg area is facing acute pain from the pandemic.

“Our region has been specifically hard hit as we are a tourism-based economy and we are really feeling the impact of the COVID-19 crisis here on the front end,” she said.

Gilbreath said economic developers see themselves as “first responders” to the business community. The Greater Williamsburg Partnership along with the economic development authorities of the City of Williamsburg, James City County and York County, approached the Williamsburg Community Foundation to discuss a new fund to support small businesses in early April. Gilbreath said the three EDAs gave $10,000 in seed money. The Greater Williamsburg Small Business Relief Fund was established, with the foundation serving as a vehicle to raise additional funds. WCF will partner with the Virginia 30 Day Fund which makes forgivable loans to qualified small businesses.

Chesapeake Bank contributed a further $10,000 and signed up as a bank partner. Board members of the Williamsburg Community Foundation added a further $7,500. Barb Ramsey, a Williamsburg City Council member has pledged $6,000 as part of a matching funding initiative.

Gilbreath said the $33,500 means “11 businesses that can receive $3,000 in forgivable loans in the Greater Williamsburg region.”

Gilbreath said the initiative uses a model Pete Snyder of the nonprofit Virginia 30 Day Fund set up last month. Since its launch on April 6, the Virginia 30 Day Fund has supported more than 140 small businesses.

“This fund is designed to be solution-orientated and provide quick access to capital,” said Gilbreath.

Snyder described the new initiative as a “groundbreaking partnership in the commonwealth.”

Snyder said wars are raging on two fronts, the health and wellness fight against coronavirus by doctors and nurses and the economic war that’s “raging on main streets across the country.”

“You are the economic marines and we are happy to lend a hand,” he said. Snyder said the 30 Day Fund has helped The Prescription Shoppe, a mom and pop drugstore, Shorty’s Diner and Carrot Tree Kitchens.

Leigh Houghland of Chesapeake Bank, a board member of the Greater Williamsburg Partnership, said small businesses are struggling.

“Being a tourism-based economy there is a lot of pain out there. Before we were officially sheltering in place even a lot of my restaurateurs and hospitality management folks were saying this is looking a little tough,” he said.

Alison Lennarz, a trustee of the Williamsburg Community Foundation, called for effort, creativity and collaboration to overcome the “tremendous impact that the shelter in place and the virus generally have had on our community.”

“I hope I don’t have to imagine a time of greater need. We have never seen anything like this,” she said.

Ramsey is appealing for matching funding to trigger her personal contribution of $6,000.

“I’m challenging others, perhaps those who want to pay forward their stimulus check,” she said. “Once $6,000 in new contributions has been received, I’ll match it with my personal contribution of $6,000.”

The new partnership is one of several measures to help Williamsburg-area businesses hit hard by COVID-19. Williamsburg City Council backed the creation of a fund that allows eligible businesses to receive a grant valued at half of their paid 2019 Business, Professional and Occupational Tax at a virtual special meeting last week.

To find out more about the forgivable loans program visit va30dayfund.com and fill out an application. Businesses that employ three to 30 people, are based in Virginia, and have operated for at least a year and are owned and operated by a Virginia resident can apply for assistance.