The Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce has received $300,000 in federal dollars to support Black businesses with technical assistance and other resources.
The award comes as a part of the recently signed $1.7 trillion federal spending bill to fund the federal government and its programs signed into law late last year.
Sheila Dixon, the organization’s director, said the $300,000 is the largest one-time funding allotment it has received. Dixon said the grant will be used to support a program that will aid Black businesses in their growth and planning. Black businesses located in Alexandria, Fairfax County, Loudoun and Prince William counties will be eligible to participate in the program.
Dixon said the focus of the program will be on growth-stage companies and increasing access to capital for Black businesses.
“We want to make sure that we are educating them and getting them to a place where they can compete,” she said. “Once they learn and grow with us, we can have some sort of contingency where we could possibly start giving them grants— put it back into the community so we can continue to help them all grow.”