In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced the agency will award CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants in Virginia.
The grants will capitalize and administer Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) that will provide critical gap financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic across Virginia.
CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant funding will benefit small businesses in Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton, and Virginia other cities.
The city of Norfolk, Virginia, will receive a $549,900 EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to capitalize and administer an RLF to provide loans to coronavirus-impacted small businesses in the city of Norfolk.
The city of Newport News-Department of Development, Newport News, Virginia, will receive a $1.5 million EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to capitalize and administer an RLF to provide loans to coronavirus-impacted small businesses in the cities of Newport News and Hampton.
The $1.5 million award will be administered through the Peninsula Industrial Finance Corporation for a special COVID-19 relief revolving loan fund. It will be administered similar to the existing Peninsula Revolving Loan Fund, which benefits small businesses in Newport News and Hampton. The Newport News Department of Development serves as the fiscal agent for the corporation and Grantee for the award.
The purpose of the CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant is to alleviate sudden and severe economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; to provide permanent resources to support economic resiliency; and to further the long-term economic adjustment objectives of the two cities.
Norfolk, Newport News, and Hampton are among 850 localities and organizations across the country that will receive supplemental funding under the $1.5 billion provided to the Economic Development Administration under the CARES Act.
sources: City of Norfolk, City of Newport News, City of Hampton