Commercial Enterprise and Jobs

United Virginia focuses on job generation and economic development for Virginia's under-resourced entrepreneurs by using community organizing to create business growth opportunities. United Virginia collaborates with individuals, foundations, corporations, academic institutions, and government agencies who seek individual and community wealth building and job generation as a means of improving the Common Good of the Commonwealth.

Business leadership of local, regional, and national governmental and non-governmental organizations are engaged to create the technical assistance and lending opportunties for Virginia's under-resourced microenterprises. Business management support, networking, and development of new markets provide by community organizing efforts foster the growth and success of Virginia's microenterprises, in building jobs and financial stability in urban and rural localities.

Finance

As part of its mission, United Virginia, assists entrepreneurs from across the Commonwealth to provide strategic guidance for all stages of business development where options for financing play a key role in an organization’s growth and success. United Virginia supports microenterprise owners in efforts to obtain grants, private investment, and/or assistance with banks in loan generation.

Microenterprise Development

United Virginia is a statewide, community-sustained, microenterprise development organization, serving under-resourced entrepreneurs with a peer lending technical assistance program, supplemented by a peer lending fund targeting under-resourced and under-banked entrepreneurs. The Virginia Microenterprise Fund that United Virginia directs has been established at New Generations FCU and is adapted from the Grameen Bank and faith community lending models, including the Jubilee Assistance Fund.

United Virginia collaborates with its fiduciary partner, Virginia Interfaith Center, and its two operational partners, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and New Visions, New Ventures. The former is an educational outreach program of Virginia's land-grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University and the latter a regional service provider of the Virginia Enterprise Initiative network of microenterprise development organizations. United Virginia operates a Peer Lending Program for Women, and has ongoing training and support sessions for participants in its Peer Lending Program.

Additional info about UV's Microenteprise Program and plans for expansion with constituencies and localities can be found at the "Upcoming Events" link on the Home Page and elsewhere on this web site.