Businesses in 20 West Virginia counties affected by a severe dry spell last August may qualify for low-interest federal loans. But the deadline to apply is fast approaching.
Businesses in 20 West Virginia counties affected by a severe dry spell last August may qualify for low-interest federal loans. But the deadline to apply is fast approaching.
Following severe weather and disaster events, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) can offer affected “small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and private nonprofits” economic injury disaster loans, according to a March 21 SBA press release.
Businesses do not need to experience direct physical damage to qualify. Instead of physical repairs, these loans go toward “working capital needs” from the disaster period, including outstanding debts, payroll balances and other bills.
Dollar amounts vary business to business, but the SBA can award loans up to $2 million, all with no accruing interest. Payments are not due until one year following a loan’s distribution.
Businesses seeking loans for last August’s drought must apply through the SBA by April 21. Twenty West Virginia counties qualify for the program: Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Nicholas, Putnam, Raleigh, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt and Wood counties.
“SBA loans help eligible small businesses and private nonprofits cover operating expenses after a disaster, which is crucial for their recovery,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA, in the press release. “These loans not only help business owners get back on their feet but also play a key role in sustaining local economies in the aftermath of a disaster.”
To apply for an economic injury disaster loan online through the U.S. Small Business Administration, visit the SBA website.
For more information on the loan program, residents can contact the SBA over the phone at (800) 659-2955 or over email at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
West Virginia business officials are launching two new programs that aim to make operating and accessing child care easier in the Mountain State.
In 2023, an estimated 20,000 West Virginia children under age six were unable to receive child care due to capacity issues, according to an August 2024 report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
Will Miller, interim state director for the West Virginia Small Business Development Center (SBDC), sees that as a workforce issue. The less parents can rely on child care centers, the less likely they are to reenter the workforce as their children age.
“That’s one of the big impacts of the child care problem in the state,” Miller said. “People want to keep working. But they can’t find enough spots for child care, or they can’t afford to put the kid in child care and then work at the same time.”
That is a major reason the SBDC is launching a pair of dual pilot programs under a new project entitled “Childcare West Virginia: Building the Business that Supports Business.”
The project will encompass two new interventions from the state, which Miller said the SBDC hopes can reduce barriers to both operating and accessing child care services.
The Childcare Business Assistance Program
The SBDC’s Childcare Business Assistance (CBA) program looks to support the owners of for-profit child care facilities across the state. The program will provide financial training to newly registered child care providers, and longer-term financial consulting for child care centers already in place.
This advisory support aims to help child care businesses “so that they can be sustainable” and “add more employees, therefore add more spots for kids and therefore keep more people in the workforce,” Miller said.
The SBDC will provide training and consultation support through Wonderschool, a company that provides “comprehensive child care solutions,” according to its website. Wonderschool already operates in communities across the country affected by child care shortages, according to Miller.
If a new child care business were to seek out support from the SBDC, Miller said his organization could ask Wonderschool to audit their finances and identify ways to save more money and improve services.
“Through coaching, they would go from ideas through the sign-up process, through all the legal boxes,” Miller said. “I mean, top to bottom, take you from idea to door open.”
The CBA program is actively reviewing new businesses to work with through the Wonderschool website.
Parents, child care providers and advocates marched through the State Capitol in August to urge lawmakers and former Gov. Jim Justice to address the state’s growing child care crisis.
Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
West Virginia Tri-Share
The other program, known as West Virginia Tri-Share, is a cost-share program that splits child care expenses between a resident, their employer and, through the SBDC, the state.
By using state dollars to partially subsidize child care, Miller said the SBDC could help more parents reenter the workforce without financial hang-ups.
“The whole design of this is the child care provider still makes what they have to make just to keep the lights on,” Miller said. “The employer has a benefit they can give to their employees to keep a good staff. And then the employee can lessen the burden of their child care costs and make it worth their while to stay in the workforce.”
Miller said the Tri-Share program follows a similar program enacted in Michigan, and will work with places of employment that volunteer to participate. The program will formally begin in March, and interested businesses can find more information on the Wonderschool website.
A First Step
The pilot programs will begin on a limited basis, servicing just eight counties in the state: Boone, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam, Roane and Wirt counties.
The Appalachian Regional Commission funded both programs through economic development grants, which go toward regions of Appalachia affected by the decline of the coal industry.
The grant request was submitted by the SBDC in conjunction with the West Virginia Economic Development Office, West Virginia’s Workforce Resiliency Office and Wonderschool.
Miller said he does not see the programs as a catch-all solution to the state’s child care crisis, but rather a first step toward identifying solutions.
“It addresses something that is pretty epidemic around the country,” he said. “Now, this isn’t a silver bullet that’s going to fix everything. But [with] this program, we’re trying to attack it from a different angle.”
Throughout the pilot process, Miller said the SBDC and its partners will monitor the programs’ results on participating counties and businesses. If they prove successful, he said they hope to expand the services to all 55 West Virginia counties in the future.
“We’re starting with these counties, and we’re hoping we can have success and learn from this, adjust what we’re doing from this, and roll it out across the whole state,” Miller said.
The West Virginia National Guard is opening a new entrepreneurial center in Charleston with a nearly $600,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
A business center slated for Charleston aims to provide new resources to entrepreneurs in the culinary sector, including office areas, recipe design spaces and a test kitchen.
The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Thursday it will grant the West Virginia National Guard $595,000 to establish a small business hub in the state capital “with a specific emphasis on food production and innovation.”
Adjutant General for the State of West Virginia William Crane said in a press release that the new funding will allow the National Guard to expand current entrepreneurial resources within the state’s veteran community and beyond.
The West Virginia Military Authority currently operates a program called Patriot Guardens, which provides “agricultural education and hands-on learning opportunities to veterans, active duty members of the military and their families,” according to the program’s website.
Crane said Thursday that the Patriot Guardens program serves as a stepping stone for veteran and military-affiliated West Virginians looking to enter agricultural entrepreneurship. He expects the new small business hub to expand upon those resources.
The small business center will offer “greater educational, financial and business opportunities,” and will support the Patriot Guardens program “as it continues to mature,” he said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., said in the press release that he is eager to see the entrepreneurial work that can be accomplished through the new Kanawha County facility.
“I’m pleased the SBA is investing… [in] the West Virginia National Guard’s creation of an innovative small business center in Charleston,” he said. “This funding will support our veterans’ entrepreneurial endeavors, especially in food production.”
Just one month remains for business owners and residents affected by extreme weather incidents in April to apply for disaster assistance loans with the United States Small Business Administration.
Just one month remains for business owners and residents affected by extreme weather incidents in April to apply for disaster assistance loans with the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).
The SBA is currently accepting applications for its low-interest disaster loan, which can subsidize property and structure repair costs that are not already covered by insurance providers.
There is no application fee associated with the disaster loans, and applicants can choose to accept or deny the loans offered to them. The loans also do not accrue interest or have required payments for the first 12 months after they are granted.
Additionally, the SBA is accepting applications for its Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
Granted to private nonprofits and small businesses, these loans do not require proof of physical damages. Instead, the EIDL program grants participants a capital loan, which helps them cover operating expenses as they recover from disaster-related revenue loss.
While insurance coverage might affect the size of the loan applicants receive, Stephen Clark, public affairs specialist for the SBA, said resident and business owners should not hesitate to begin the application process.
“Disaster survivors should not wait to settle with their insurance company before applying,” he wrote in a Thursday email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
“If a survivor does not know how much of their loss will be covered by insurance or other sources, SBA can make a low-interest disaster loan for the total loss up to its loan limits, provided the borrower agrees to use insurance proceeds to reduce or repay the loan,” he said.
The deadline to apply for both loans is July 22.
Residents and businesses in 11 West Virginia counties — Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Putnam, Wayne and Wetzel counties — are eligible to apply for the loans.
Additional financial support for businesses and residents affected by April's severe weather is also available through WorkForce West Virginia.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Residents and business owners can apply for the loans online at the SBA website.
For more information on the loan application process, prospective applicants can schedule an appointment at the SBA’s business recovery centers in the Charleston Area Alliance or the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Wheeling.
The SBA can also provide information on the loans over the phone at 1-800-659-2955, or via email at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Prospective applicants with speech or hearing accessibility needs can dial 7-1-1 for telecommunications relay services that can connect to the SBA service number.
Small businesses in Boone, Clay, Hampshire, Monroe, and Preston counties are now eligible for financial help through a federal program.
Small businesses in Boone, Clay, Hampshire, Monroe, and Preston counties are now eligible for financial help through a federal program.
The counties are now designated as Historically Underutilized Business Zones, or HUBZones. Small businesses located in these areas are given exclusive federal contracting opportunities and preferential price evaluations for those contracts.
The program’s goal is to give three percent of federal contract dollars to businesses certified with the program.
Department of Commerce Secretary James Bailey says the program is meant to help businesses in these designated, underserved areas compete.
“It gives a tremendous opportunity to small businesses throughout the state to get into the game,” Bailey said. “It’ll help small businesses in West Virginia compete against huge federal vendors in other parts of the country.”
Gov. Jim Justice requested the counties be granted the designation by the U.S. Small Business Administration last month. In 2022, 59 West Virginia businesses located in areas automatically designated as HUBZones federally received almost $100 million in total funding.
The SBA will update its HUBZone map July 1, which shows where designated HUBZone areas are located nationwide. Bailey says once the map is updated, they’ll be able to identify additional HUBZones and add more areas designated by the governor’s office.
House of Delegates members said on Monday there is no rush in offering the people of West Virginia well deserved, and well thought out tax relief.
House of Delegates members said on Monday there is no rush in offering the people of West Virginia well deserved, and well thought out tax relief.
The Senate and Gov. Jim Justice now agree on the amended House Bill 2526, the estimated $750 million Senate plan that includes an initial personal income tax cut, a personal property tax credit for vehicles and a property tax break on equipment and inventory aimed at small businesses.
The 20.25 percent personal income tax cut – higher than the Senate’s initial proposal of 15 percent but lower than the House’s proposal of 30 percent – would be effective retroactively to January 1, 2023.
A provision to trigger future income tax reductions, similar to the one in the Senate’s original proposal, is included with changes. The new formula is based on a comparison of general revenue collections in a fiscal year minus severance tax collection as compared to the base year of 2019.
Adjusted for inflation, if the general revenue collections minus the severance tax collections exceed the adjusted base year, a reduction would be triggered.
The amendment also includes a refundable tax credit for personal property paid on automobiles and 100 percent refundable tax credit for disabled veterans against personal income taxes paid on homesteads, both remaining unchanged from the original Senate proposal.
Small businesses with an appraised value of $1 million or less would be given a tax credit allowing a 50 percent refund against personal and corporate net income tax for personal property.
The removal of the so-called “marriage tax penalty” was not included as part of the compromise.
The bill was received by the house on Monday.
However, House Majority Whip and Finance Committee member Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, said there needs to be a close examination of the Senate tax proposal before any final decisions are made.
“There have been a lot of negotiations and a lot of conversation, and a bill is coming to us. There is a lot of detail in that bill. And we want to be certain to go through it to make sure it is correct and something that we can work with,” Gearheart said. “The House members overall are interested in cutting taxes for West Virginians. This is a vessel to do that and we’re going to examine it closely to make sure it’s right and proper and deal with it at that point.”
Gearhart said there are no rubber stamps, by the House of Delegates or the Senate.
