2022 Annual Report

Message From The Director

Dear Stakeholders,

Greetings and welcome to the annual update from the Office of Economic Development.

American author Robert Collier once said, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” As I look back on 2022, that phrase seems to capture OED’s work as our collective efforts continued to positively impact the business community.

Internally, we onboarded two new staff members to help with business development and workforce development as we continued rebuilding the OED team. To better foster connection and increase communication as we emerged from the pandemic, we instituted a daily in person morning huddle which provides a regular opportunity to check-in with one another.

We were pleased to engage on a number of issues with the newly formed downtown business group - Friends of Charlottesville Downtown. Friends brought a new energy and dedicated staff to the challenges and opportunities of our downtown. Installing an art-wrap on the unfinished mall front hotel and securing new public access to restrooms on the mall exemplify our collaboration.

In our role managing the City’s off-street parking assets, OED participated in the renegotiation of the City/County Courts agreement, of which, access to parking is critical. The amended agreement, which has been approved by both governing bodies, provides the County with sufficient access to parking to proceed with the major renovation of the Levy Opera House for use as a new court complex. In addition, OED led the effort to purchase an existing surface parking lot on Jefferson Street to help replace lost inventory.

At the end of the year, the Economic Development Authority received notice that a grant in support of the Black Entrepreneurial Advancement and Community Opportunity Network (BEACON) commercial kitchen had been awarded by the Governor. The BEACON kitchen will offer lower rental fees, helping producers overcome a barrier to entry for food startups.

In 2023, OED is excited to move forward with a consultant led process to develop a new five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan for the City. Resonance Consultancy will lead the engagement and will provide strategic direction by identifying key opportunities for future growth and partnerships.

In his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, author Richard Carlson poses the question: “Will this matter a year from now?” As we consider the value of a new strategic direction, we are asking ourselves “what will matter in a year or more,” in an effort to capture initiatives that truly drive economic vitality.

Onward! Thank you for your continued support of Charlottesville’s business community.

Sincerely,

Chris Engel Director, Office of Economic Development

BY THE NUMBERS

BRACE

GRANTS AWARDED TO SMALL BUSINESSES

ASSISTED OVER60 PARTICIPANTS 15 IN 2022 COMPLETED THE GO START-UP PROGRAM

APPLICATIONS RECEIVED TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED

SERVED OVER 150 City businesses

since 2016 employees

51 participants have completed the program since inception in 2020

VISITATION PROGRAM

150 BUSINESS VISITS conducted in 2022

BUSINESS

12 LOANS IN PLACE TOTALING $157,715

37 60k 23

PEOPLE REACHED EVENTS PROMOTED

CITY & COUNTY BUSINESSES PROMOTED

16 FREE CONSULTATIONS provided to businesses at Resource Fair

13 GRADUATING CLASSES since inception 70 SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUALS entering the culinary workforce industry

PARKING SPACES MANAGED

131 146 $170k COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT

379 $52M

OVER 1600 PARTICIPANTS COMMERCIAL PERMITS ISSUED

2 LOANS FULLY REPAID TOTALING $26,500

VALUE OF COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT

2022 Highlights

ISS Participates in Economic Gardening Program

Throughout the latter part of 2022, local software company Innovative Software Solutions (ISS) participated in the Economic Gardening Program in collaboration with the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG) and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). The term Economic Gardening was coined by Phil Burgess of the Center for the New West who observed that communities should do less economic hunting (recruiting companies from other towns) and stay home and focus on growing local companies.

This program provides qualifying secondstage companies with access to custom resources, data analysts, and tools to identify and resolve distinct growth challenges that traditional business assistance and incentives do not address.

Prior to acceptance into the program, companies must meet several key criteria. These include generating annual revenue between $500,000 and $5 million, employing 5-100 employees, and demonstrating potential revenue growth over the next three years. During a business visitation, the Office of Economic Development identified ISS as a strong candidate for the program and connected the leadership team to staff at VEDP. Following the

completion of the eight-week program, ISS is better prepared to continue its growth in the software market. “The Economic Gardening Program helped us set a foundation for further growth. They provided us with in-depth answers to our major business questions. The research and data provided will allow us to develop a solid plan of action as to where we should invest our resources to sustain and grow our company,” said ISS Director of Growth, Branford Rogers.

Founded in 2006, ISS is a software development firm that provides affordable software services making it easier for entrepreneurs to transform ideas into tech companies, and for tech companies to focus on core competencies by alleviating software frustrations. Led by its CEO Charlie Rogers, the company is headquartered in McIntire Plaza.

Business Visitation Program Offers Great Connections to City Businesses

OED’s staff continued to promote the Business Visitation Program, which is designed to provide businesses with a single point of contact to help them find solutions for today’s business issues. This program allows business owners to share their story with an OED staff member, connect with business assistance resources, and provide feedback to help make Charlottesville a great place to do business.

The Business Visitation Program enables OED to cultivate and foster better relationships within the business community.

We love to hear and learn from our businesses. What’s their unique story? Why did they locate to Charlottesville? What makes them stay? How can we help them grow? We are proud to attract best in class manufacturing, medical, and financial service providers, as well as the diverse community of small businesses who call our City home. During 2022, 150 business visits were conducted to over 75 businesses in the City!

First meeting of Economic Gardening Team and ISS staff, August 22, 2022

Bread & Roses Ribbon Cutting

In June, the Office of Economic Development joined Bread & Roses for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new walk in cooler. Bread & Roses is an outreach ministry of Trinity Episcopal Church that provides access to a commercial commissary kitchen for early stage food and beverage start-ups. OED’s Building Resilience Among Charlottesville Entrepreneurs (BRACE) grant provided funding support for the addition of the cooler. Since its inception in 2015, Bread & Roses has assisted 20 start-ups with access to a certified commercial kitchen with many of those same start-ups also receiving support from OED. The new cooler will enhance efficiency, add capacity to the facility, and increase access for aspiring culinary entrepreneurs.

OED Offers BRACE Grants to City Businesses

As part of the city’s adopted Recovery Roadmap plan, the Charlottesville Office of Economic Development (OED) issued two rounds of funding to businesses in 2022 through the Building Resiliency Among Charlottesville Entrepreneurs (BRACE) grant program. Funds to support the BRACE grants came in part from the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority and from the City’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) allocation. The grant funds are intended to help small businesses that have adapted their business operations to offset the difficulties incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between the two grant rounds, the program received 146 applications totaling approximately $800,000 in business expenses. After a thorough review, OED awarded 131 grants to small businesses and organizations. These grants ranged from $200 to the full $2,500, ultimately resulting in approximately $170,000 in grant funds being dispersed.

City and County Continue Partnership with Buy Local Program

OED continued its partnership with Albemarle County’s Office of Economic Development on the regional Buy Local campaign. The effort seeks to educate the public on the many benefits of supporting locally owned and operated businesses which include keeping more money circulating in our local economy, job opportunities for residents and enhanced civic pride. The campaign includes postings on social media for both City and County businesses, along with ongoing radio ads. A new website was developed, and the Buy Local logo began popping up in numerous businesses across the area. There are so many great locally owned businesses and we are proud to celebrate them all!

Ribbon cutting at Bread & Roses for new walk-in commercial cooler supported by BRACE grant

Cville Match

The Cville Match program seeks to advance commercialization efforts of local companies by providing matching funds to recipients of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and the Commonwealth Research and Commercialization Fund (CRCF) grants. It also provides matching funds to City based recipients of the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP) which is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and is designed to help traded-sector companies create new jobs.

Cville Match began in 2019 and has had 11 participating companies since inception.

Of those, six have completed the program during which time they collectively added 38 new jobs, increased employee wages by an average of $8 per hour, raised over $8 million in additional capital and more than doubled the size of their City based facilities.

Cville Match Spotlight

Icarus Medical has developed a non-invasive, cost-effective brace that effectively addresses pain due to osteoarthritis. The braces are custom designed and made using large format 3D printers.

Icarus was awarded $100,000 in 2021 from the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund which qualified them for additional matching funds from Cville Match.

In 2022, the company added 6 employees, raised $1.5 million in funding and moved into a 10,000 square foot office and manufacturing space near the downtown mall. In 2023, Icarus is planning to launch 3 new product lines to expand the impact of their technology.

SoundPipe is a medical device company developing an intravascular drug delivery platform that can enhance therapy in any form of cardiovascular disease.

In 2019, SoundPipe received a $750,000 SBIR grant through the National Science Foundation which enabled access to Cville Match funds.

The company continues to accelerate their technology and recently relocated to a new 4,000 square foot office/lab space, hired 5 additional employees and raised $1.5 million in additional funding.

GO Hire Workforce Grant

Throughout the year, OED continued the GO Hire program to align with the Recovery Roadmap initiative to better assist local business with hiring staff. The workforce-based grant is designed to assist City businesses that are growing and enhancing their workforce. Businesses that are hiring City residents for positions that pay at least $15.00/hour or who are retraining their existing workforce could be eligible for up to $5,000 in reimbursements. Several City businesses took advantage of this grant program in 2022 to enhance their workforce.

One local business that utilized the program to their benefit was Jones Heating & Air. Established in 2007, Jones Heating & Air is a HVAC business providing residential and commercial services to Charlottesville and the surrounding region. OED was approached by Jones Heating & Air to discuss potential grants for training programs and helped to facilitate successful enrollment in the program. GO Hire funding will help facilitate a two-year training program for all staff members, consisting of in-class and handson training for technicians and video classes for office staff. The stated goal is uniformity for the entire organization, with the training expected to last until 2024.

The Go Hire Program was right on time! Once our employees completed and passed specific trainings to enhance their knowledge base, they were given raises and with the support from the Go Hire Program, it helped put our minds to rest knowing we had some assistance with this big undertaking.”

Sodora

Jones, Jones Heating & Air

Created in 2016, the GO Hire program has assisted over 60 City businesses and served over 150 employees. The overall program is divided into two distinct grants, each providing a specific area of assistance. The New Employee Wage Subsidy is provided when a city resident is hired to fill a new position or a vacant, existing position and paid at least $15.00 per hour. The Existing Worker Retraining Grant is provided when businesses train and/or re-train their employees. The training must target improving business efficiencies and provide an opportunity that will lead to additional skills for the company’s workforce.

GO Cook Program celebrates their 13th Graduating Class

GO Cook is a high-intensity, five-week culinary program that prepares students for entry level careers within the restaurant industry. It’s designed to help people with barriers to employment obtain credentials that will jumpstart a new career. GO Cook developed as a partnership between the City’s Office of Economic Development and Culinary Concepts AB LLC as the training provider. In recent years Albemarle County has also supported the program. Students leave the program with both a ServeSafe and a Certified Cook certification and an opportunity for job placement locally. GO Cook is free to eligible City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, has no age or education requirements, and enrollment is open all year.

GO Cook Graduates

(Photo Credit: Kori Price)

Jamie and Sodora Jones, Jones Heating & Air

2022 Highlights

Since its inception, GO Cook has had 13 classes graduate with nearly 70 participants who have made their way into the culinary workforce industry. The program’s Core Competencies include Integrity, SelfDiscipline, Time management, Communication and Adaptability—life skills that can be utilized in any field. The GO Cook Program is helping to make a difference in both the City’s jobseekers and food and beverage business industry by ensuring a skilled workforce remains available, viable and competitive.

New initiatives to expand Tech Workforce

Technology is the future, and Virginia is taking steps to ensure the state is ready to meet the demand by building a skilled and diverse talent pipeline for higher-paying jobs in the technology fields. Locally, one such initiative, TechLink Central, was developed by the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development (CVPED) and is partially funded by GO Virginia Region 9. It’s devised to forge relationships between regional employers needing tech labor and current and recent graduates of UVA and local community colleges looking to start their careers. Its purpose is to encourage graduates in the tech industry to remain living and working in the region. TechLink provides greater visibility for entry-level tech jobs and shares insights into regional companies, careers, and quality of life

Central Virginia offers its workforce. A dedicated website and staff help connect the employers with the students, customizing each of their needs to ensure a good fit for both. The initiative seeks to create or fill 55 jobs in the span of three years.

Business Equity Fund (BEF) Loan Impact

Beyond the region, the Commonwealth of Virginia, donors, and corporate partners are investing more than $2 billion to expand Virginia’s tech talent pipeline through an initiative called the Innovative Tech Talent Investment Program. Several colleges and universities throughout Virginia will be collaborating on the initiative that seeks to double the number of graduates each year in computer science and closely related fields.

Technology businesses relocating or expanding into Virginia join world-class tech leaders like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, as well as companies in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), FinTech, Manufacturing Tech, and Software-as-aService (SaaS). According to CyberSeek, Virginia is also home to the second largest cybersecurity sector in the country. Together these two Tech programs will ensure Virginia creates and sustains a healthy, robust economic environment where Virginians can live, study, work and play all in their own backyard.

The City of Charlottesville Business Equity Fund (BEF) is a loan program for existing City businesses that are owned by individuals who are considered socially disadvantaged (i.e., those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias because of their identity as members of a group). The BEF, administered in partnership with the Community Investment Collaborative (CIC), lowers eligibility criteria typically experienced in traditional banking scenarios and offers a subsidized interest rate that is well below the market rate (up to 3%).

SEPT 13

Starting Your Business

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Online Workshop

SEPT 15

Fem Founder Financing

1:00 - 2:30 PM

Northside Library, 705 Rio Rd W

Hybrid

SEPT 24

Black Business Expo

Minority Business Month kicked off in style at the Minority Business Alliance 10th Anniversary Gala at The Club at Glenmore. The month-long series of events, sponsored by OED and its Minority Business Program, was held in September and celebrated business diversity in the Charlottesville community. Events included several entrepreneur workshops, Black Business Expo, and a resource fair.

10:00 AM - 7:00 PM

IX Art Park, 522 2nd St SE

Minority Business Month was open to all local businesses, as well as allies of small, women-, and minorityowned businesses. This was a great opportunity to network and meet members of the business community.

SEPT 28

Resource Fair

12:00 - 4:00 PM

City Space, 100 5th St NE

During the Minority Business Alliance Gala, ten business owners were awarded a total of $50,000 in grant funding provided by the United Way of Greater Charlottesville and Minority Business Alliance of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

SEPT 29

Starting Your Business

6:00 - 8:00 PM

Online Workshop

Minority Business Month was made possible with support from: Sponsored By

The Minority Business Program partnered with Community Investment Collaborative to host the Fall 2022 Resource Fair on September 28, 2022.

The Resource Fair is a reoccurring event held each Fall that is organized for local small business owners to receive complementary services provided by industry experts

Free consultations were provided to over 16 businesses in attendance in areas such as accounting, SWAM certification, business insurance, human resources, patent law, marketing, and business productivity.

For more information, visit: www.cvilleminoritybusinessprogram.org

Thanks to all those who participated throughout the month. See you next year!

Recipients of the 2022 Minority Enterprise Grant at the MBA 10th Anniversary Gala. (Photo credit: Derrick Waller)

Fall 2022 Resource Fair a partnership between the Community Investment Collaborative and Minority Business Program.

GO Start-Up 2022

The GO Start-Up program is an entry-level program for entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses. The Minority Business Program’s GO Start-Up 2022 classes have been redesigned into a two-week workshop. Participants had the opportunity to test a business concept through hands-on project development and management skills in a low-risk environment. The program emphasized the importance of self-organization and goal setting as critical components of business ownership. Participants of the program were able to learn new and challenging concepts that come with starting a business in a fast-paced environment.

The workshop involved completing assignments on varying topics: business licensing, product development, start-up cost estimates, marketing strategy, product/service evaluation, and more. Fifteen participants completed the GO Start-Up Program in 2022. City of Charlottesville residents that successfully complete the class and all assignments qualify for a mini grant to assist with their business. These funds can be used for such expenses as licensing, website development, business cards, and more.

GO Start-Up 2022 Participants

Norman Grooms

Marlene Thompson

Tenise Gibson

Nicole Cobbs

Chereka Porter

Alexis Hill

Dodzi Zaney

Wilma Dove

GO Start-Up Spotlight

Robert Johnson

Jonathan Vowles

Hyeyon Moon

Signay Shelton

Jahmila Riley

Amber Smith

Brandon Lee

Amber Smith Owner CAMPed Administrative Services

Amber Smith received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Radford University and returned to the Charlottesville area after graduation. Here she began working in various roles with non-profit foundations, government contracting firms, and healthcare providers. She started independent contracting during the pandemic, providing administrative services to small businesses, musicians, and local grant writers. This sparked her journey into entrepreneurship, and she began taking steps to create CAMPed Administrative Services, starting with participating in the fall 2022 GO Start-Up program.

CAMPed Administrative Services, LLC is a Charlottesville-based administrative and concierge service provider. Their customers are small to medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, grant writers, and executive professionals. CAMPed provides Virtual Administrative

(VA) services to include tasks that typically overwhelm business owners, managers, and executives. Services are offered to provide a cost-effective option for customers who do not have the capital and/ or bandwidth to hire full or part-time employees.

When asked how GO Start-Up impacted her as an entrepreneur, Amber replied,

“The class gave me a group of people whom I can continue to work with and created a great support system for me. My classmates became a part of my small tribe.”

Parking Program

While much of the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have subsided the ripple effects on parking demand downtown continue to be felt. Remote and hybrid work options have had an impact on transportation and commuting patterns. For example, many downtown office workers are still only coming into the office one or two days a week, resulting in additional available parking downtown. The Market Street Garage remains busy, but no longer closes midday on high volume days as had become a regular occurrence prior to the pandemic. The Water Street Garage now has available capacity having suffered the loss of a major downtown employer and the pandemic impact simultaneously.

While this is helpful for folks who want to park downtown, it has put a financial strain on the Parking Fund. The City has, however, chosen not to raise rates at this time. With other inflationary pressures on the local economy, it is an opportunity for the City to hold fees steady in the interest of residents, businesses and visitors.

Instead, the City is making good use of the empty space and proceeding with some major capital repairs to both garages. The Market Street Garage repairs are scheduled to begin in March of 2023 and will last five months. In the process, there will be close coordination with the repair crews with only limited areas of the garage impacted at any one time. In addition, work will be scheduled around major events to be sure the demand for public parking is always met. This

is a one-time project funded through the City’s capital repair budget. In addition, a major capital repair project for the Water Street Garage is also underway. This project began in October 2022 and will continue into March of 2023. Much work has been completed already with very limited impact on customers. This is the first year of a fiveyear repair program that was necessary because no such major repairs had been undertaken since the garage was built in the early 1990s. These repairs are being funded by the Parking Fund solely from customer revenues and should guarantee the safety and serviceability of the facility for the next 20 years or more.

Finally, the City will be turning over control of the 7th Street Lot to Albemarle County on February 1, 2023. This will be the last step in honoring the City’s parking obligations to the County as part of a larger agreement to expand the courts system downtown. Alternative parking has been offered to 7th Street Lot customers and a smooth transition is anticipated. Additionally, the City has acquired a new surface parking lot at 921 East Jefferson Street. The 40-space lot is a short walk from City Hall and the Mall and provides an additional alternative for downtown parking. Both lots will offer free parking in the evenings and on weekends.

For more detailed information on parking, visit our website at: www.charlottesville.gov/239/Parking-Information.