A customer uses a portable credit card reader (via Nathan Dumlao / Unsplash)
Fairfax County is expected to send additional funding to companies that suffered the hardest during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a black nonprofit says more can be done.
According to Sheila Dixon, executive director of the nonprofit, the Black Chamber of Commerce in Northern Virginia has been repeatedly neglected in developing key business development programs related to Fairfax County.
“I would have thought we would have had the opportunity to sit at the table,” she said.
The county says it has committed to partnering with more than 55 chambers, including minority chambers, multicultural groups, and other community and business support groups in multiple languages, with its recent financial assistance initiative.
A working group of local minority entrepreneurs is also trying to make changes and build bridges. A webinar, co-hosted by the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia on June 23, attempts to address the needs of minority owned businesses and how to help them.
The group has drawn some conclusions and recommendations for equitable rest across the region and is sharing data according to the event description. The keynote speaker is Georgetown University Associate Professor Melissa Bradley who also co-founded a business mentoring service called Ureeka.
The county has identified such injustices. A county advisory report, completed in January, detailed how low-income and minority households faced greater employment difficulties, as did women held back by affordable childcare problems.
These results come from the collaboration with companies and a round table of minority chambers. The Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce was asked to do its bit and was also asked to complete an impact and recovery survey, the county said.
Fairfax County’s Relief Initiative to Support Employers (RISE) program, which awarded grants to small businesses and nonprofits, devoted at least 30% of funds to women, minority, or veteran-owned businesses. These companies received 72% of the roughly $ 53 million RISE funding, according to the county.
“We are building on and expanding on these efforts,” said district spokeswoman Wendy Lemieux in an email, adding that the district has committed itself to extensive liaison with businesses, especially those owned by women and men Colored people who are affected by the pandemic.
In contrast to the RISE program, the county’s new PIVOT grant program did not contain provisions that specifically provide funding for often marginalized groups when the board passed it last week.
Meanwhile, the Black Chamber of Commerce has shared the information on the PIVOT grants, but it is also continuing its own initiatives to help businesses recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
The organization recently launched an informational event called BTRNow (Build Thriving Returns Now), which hosted an online workshop for child entrepreneurs this spring, hosted a panel discussion on “Caring through COVID” on Monday (June 14), and is currently on a listening tour performs. programming among other things.
Dixon says many members of the chamber have turned and are thriving amid the pandemic.
However, she also noted that there can be differences and different black companies may be reluctant to apply for resources if they are skeptical that the support will come about, even if race is considered a factor in applications.
“It will be interesting to see if people feel more comfortable,” said Dixon. “We build and scale our businesses and provide them with the education and resources that are available in the community.”
Photo via Nathan Dumlao / Unsplash