By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County long has enjoyed economic success, in no small part because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, but officials are casting seeds far and wide to keep the prosperity flowing.
Rebecca Moudry, director of the county’s Department of Economic Initiatives, hit the highlights of several such endeavors during the Sept. 19 briefing for the Board of Supervisors’ Economic Initiatives Committee.
Taken together, the programs and undertakings are designed for “growing jobs, growing businesses, supporting economic mobility and supporting businesses to increase and maintain their sales so that they can increase or maintain their commercial presence,” she said.
Among the economic initiatives:
• The county is in the first stage of implementing its Fairfax THRIVE program, which will provide technical-assistance grants to small businesses. Officials are reviewing 331 submissions from business coaches and technical-assistance providers.
The county in early December will begin accepting grant applications from small businesses. Officials expect there will be multiple cohorts of grant winners and may employ a lottery system. For more information on the program, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/economic -initiatives/fairfax-thrive.
“We have been working extremely hard,” Moudry told supervisors. “This is a complex initiative with many, many partners . . . This is a new approach that we’re taking to really double down on our efforts to reach diverse business owners in Fairfax County.”
• County officials now are developing the Connecting Opportunities & Resources for Entrepreneurs (CORE) program, which provides online resources for small businesses. The county so far has uploaded more than 75 partners into a resource navigator and is developing business guides, a referral process, tracking and metrics for the program, which is set to launch next spring.
“Pretty soon it will be one place that entrepreneurs can go to find more customized and direct connection to connect with the resources they need when they need it,” Moudry said.
To learn more about the program, visit FairfaxCORE@Fairfaxcounty.gov.
• The Department of Economic Initiatives also is developing the county’s Talent Up work-based learning fund, which will match local talent with employers via paid internships for in-demand positions.
The program, which will be operated by Northern Virginia Career Works, will begin accepting applications from employers and job seekers in October and start holding employer-recruitment and job-seeker sessions in November and December.
• The Fairfax Founders Fund, which aims to grow innovation-based start-up companies and prepare businesses for future investment, is selecting the winners of its first cohort from among 40 applications received. The fund’s advisory committee will recommend five businesses for awards and the organization will conduct further due diligence regarding the firms.
In November, the program will hold a winner showcase to announce the selectees and launch the application window for the second cohort. Additional information about the fund may be found at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/economic-initiatives/fairfax-founders-fund.
• Officials also are planning and developing an “Economic Roadmap,” which eventually will implement a program or policy solutions to retain local businesses and talent, stabilize the county’s tax base by maintaining or increasing leasing and ensure future economic competitiveness.
The county next year will solicit and review private-sector input regarding the Economic Roadmap initiative and produce options for local government to act upon. The program is a “comprehensive consideration of not only office space, but also emerging opportunities of that space and needs across the spectrum of different commercial and business owners,” Moudry said.
• In addition, the county government is completing a “place-led economic development” pilot initiative in two commercial areas; managing a $4.17 million Virginia Tourism Corp. grant to Visit Fairfax that aims to help the hospitality industry recover and expand from pandemic-related impacts; and developing a retention-and-expansion program for agencies and contractors in Fort Belvoir.
Supervisor Dalia Palchik (D-Providence) seemed wowed by the cornucopia of economic-development undertakings.
“I know, coming into this seat, I was a little jealous of things I was seeing in Arlington,” she said. “No longer. They should be jealous of us. I think these are just excellent programs.”
For additional information about the county’s programs, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/economic-initiatives.
