Overview

The City of Virginia Beach recognizes that small businesses are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To encourage businesses to continue their operations and help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic, the City has established a system to award monetary grants to assist businesses with costs incurred during the pandemic. These grants are intended to provide immediate financial relief for expenses already incurred by the businesses and are funded through an allocation of the Coronavirus Relief Funds provided through the Federal CARES ACT.

Receipts will be required for expenses that may include Protective Personal Equipment, IT and non-IT equipment, IT and non-IT services, professional services, workplace modification, indoor and outdoor furniture and fixtures, training, staffing or other unanticipated expenditures needed to deal with the impact of COVID-19 business interruptions. Reimbursements will total the value of submitted qualified receipts not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).

Applications will be accepted only via the City of Virginia Beach Online Portal and will be processed in the order received. Applications will be accepted for three (3) weeks (21 days): October 12, 2020 - November 2, 2020. At the conclusion of the application period, grants will be awarded through a lottery system until either December 31, 2020, or all available funding is expended. Please note that the submission of an application does not guarantee approval as eligibility criteria must be met and all supporting documentation included.

Key Criteria

• Federal rules require that each expense can only be funded by one CARES Act program. Please ensure that all reimbursements submitted to the City of Virginia Beach have not also been funded through other federal sources such as the PPP loan; EDIL; Health and Human Service Provider Relief Fund payments; or other similar assistance programs.
• The applicant can demonstrate unforeseen expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The expense must have been incurred and paid after March 1, 2020. Funding must be used for an eligible expense to mitigate business interruptions for the grant awardee business.
• The application must have all required attachments in order to be considered
  • Business license number
  • Disclosure Statement
  • Receipts as back up documentation for expenses incurred related to the pandemic

 1 “Parent-subsidiary relationship” means “a relationship that exists when one corporation directly or indirectly owns shares possessing more than 50 percent of the voting power of another corporation.” See State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, VA. Code § 2.2-3101. 

2 “Affiliated business entity relationship” means “a relationship, other than parent-subsidiary relationship, that exists when (i) one business entity has a controlling ownership interest in the other business entity, (ii) a controlling owner in one entity is also a controlling owner in the other entity, or (iii) there is shared management or control between the business entities. Factors that should be considered in determining the existence of an affiliated business entity relationship include that the same person or substantially the same person own or manage the two entities; there are common or commingled funds or assets; the business entities share the use of the same offices or employees or otherwise share activities, resources or personnel on a regular basis; or there is otherwise a close working relationship between the entities.” See State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, Va. Code § 2.2-3101.  

3 “Parent-subsidiary relationship” means “a relationship that exists when one corporation directly or indirectly owns shares possessing more than 50 percent of the voting power of another corporation.” See State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, VA. Code § 2.2-3101.

4 “Affiliated business entity relationship” means “a relationship, other than parent-subsidiary relationship, that exists when (i) one business entity has a controlling ownership interest in the other business entity, (ii) a controlling owner in one entity is also a controlling owner in the other entity, or (iii) there is shared management or control between the business entities. Factors that should be considered in determining the existence of an affiliated business entity relationship include that the same person or substantially the same person own or manage the two entities; there are common or commingled funds or assets; the business entities share the use of the same offices or employees or otherwise share activities, resources or personnel on a regular basis; or there is otherwise a close working relationship between the entities.” See State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, Va. Code § 2.2-3101.