Did grants given to Fairfax Co. businesses during COVID actually help?

During the peak of the pandemic, Michael Bozzelli reflected on a challenging reality.

He and his sister’s restaurants, Bozzelli’s, had a lot of dine-in business at their D.C. and Virginia locations that “went to zero,” he said. The same happened with their catering sales.

The restaurant, which has been around since the 1970s, had never missed a pay cycle for its workers. But early on in 2020, they dipped into their personal savings. Once those were depleted, they had to consider what to do next to keep their dozens of workers employed. Some had worked with them for 20 years.

Then, Bozzelli told WTOP, they learned online that Fairfax County was offering grant funds to help keep local businesses afloat. Bozzelli’s became one of thousands to receive the grant money.

“It was a lifeline,” Bozzelli said. “It really was a lifeline to help us meet payroll.”

Years after the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shut down most aspects of daily life, Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors tasked George Mason University researchers with evaluating whether the grant programs made a difference.

Their findings were shared with local leaders during a meeting last week.

While some businesses have since closed, many remain open.

“The real issue here, more than anything else, is did the program help businesses survive the pandemic?” said Terry Clower, director of George Mason’s Center for Regional Analysis. “And the best evidence that we have, based on surveys and analyses, is yes, it did.”

According to Fairfax County records, Bozzelli’s, which has two Springfield locations, received two grants worth $18,000 through the PIVOT program. That initiative offered financial support to businesses in the hospitality, retail, arts and food services sectors in 2021.

In 2020, through the RISE program, grants were issued to businesses to help with employee pay, health insurance or rent. Grant totals varied, and both initiatives were paid for with federal pandemic aid.

Between the two, Fairfax County gave almost $70 million to 5,482 businesses.

“Just very grateful,” Bozzelli said. “Very grateful for the taxpayer and for Fairfax County, for being there for restaurants.”

To evaluate the program’s effectiveness, researchers sent a survey to some of the grant recipients. Of the 721 survey respondents, 94% are still in business and 96% indicated the funding helped their businesses survive.

The money was most used for rent, payroll and protective gear, according to the findings.

Separately, researchers considered the programs’ impact on business survival.

Based on the normal pace of business, without the pandemic, Clower said about 3,100 businesses out of the group receiving the grants could have been expected to remain open. In actuality, over 3,300 did.

“More of the businesses survived than otherwise would have, which was one of the goals that they were attempting to do with the project,” Clower said.

The grant money, Clower said, is enough to help a business navigate a challenging time, but isn’t enough to cover operating expenses. The biggest drop off during the pandemic was in the second quarter of 2020. Then businesses started to adjust, he said.

“This kind of program specifically helped with that kind of event — sharp downturn,” Clower said. “I’m not saying that the pandemic didn’t have effects that were long run, but the worst of the effects were of a relatively short duration.”

The spent grant money increased economic activity in Fairfax County $95.5 million, according to the findings.

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