West Nova News

As one of the five community initiatives honored with the first ever #StrongerTogether Award, the Loudoun Business Interruption Fund is an effort by Loudoun Economic Development to help the community’s businesses that are struggling under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buddy Rizer, executive director of Loudoun Economic Development, told the West Nova News he is glad the Loudoun Chamber decided to use its annual Community Leadership Awards, which normally focus on businesses, to recognize community efforts to offset the impact of the coronavirus.

(0:37) “In this unusual year, I thought it was great that the Chamber went out of their way to really talk about how they could recognize some of the great work that was done in the community,” Rizer said. “We were both surprised and honored to be included with such great groups as Loudoun Hunger Relief, Women Giving Back and the Community Foundation – that was a big thrill for us.”

The Business Interruption Fund was launched relatively quickly in response to the problems seen in the early days of the pandemic, Rizer said. As soon as March 16, Loudoun Economic Development had switched gears toward retaining and informing existing businesses in the community.

Loudoun Economic Development approached the County Board of Supervisors about reallocating economic development dollars for a business interruption fund, he said.

(2:16) “They did that right away, with $1 million, and then right after that, our economic development authority added another quarter of a million dollars,” Rizer said. “Eventually, we were able to get that money into the hands of businesses, and we turned that around in under a month.”

With federal CARES Act funding, the business interruption fund was able to help out approximately 2,000 local businesses, he said.

(2:55) “And it turned out to be something that was, really, make-or-break for a lot of our companies,” Rizer said.

Recognizing that there was no amount of money that would completely offset the effects of the economic crisis, Loudoun Economic Development created a process to identify the businesses that were most vulnerable, Rizer said.

(4:08) “We were actually able to fund every single business in Loudoun County that qualified, which was quite exciting for us,” Rizer said. “We worked incredibly hard to get that money out quickly, and, boy, the response from our businesses has just been terrific.”

Rizer said that, of 499 businesses that have returned a survey designed to measure the effectiveness of the interruption fund, 73 said they are operating at full capacity, 396 are at partial capacity, and only 30 said they are temporarily closed.

(5:06) “And none reported being closed permanently,” Rizer said. “So I think that what that tells us is that money got into the hands of people that helped them save jobs, and helped them save their business.”

At the same time, the interruption fund was only a part of the work Loudoun Economic Development has set about during the crisis, Rizer said.

(6:56) “The business counseling that we provided, the business retention – we talked to over 4,000 Loudoun businesses during the last year, just to see how we could help,” Rizer said. “And we really let that outreach to the businesses determine how we went forward with our response.”

They sought out a number of ways to help the community, from creating a business information portal and assigning staff to help business owners with the many programs available, to creating a jobs board and even creating an online direct-to-consumer business model to help connect farmers with consumers, Rizer said.