SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2016 SESSION

16104903D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 321
Offered February 17, 2016
Commending Flory Small Business Center, Inc.
----------
Patrons-- Anderson, Dudenhefer and Miller; Senator: McPike
----------

WHEREAS, small businesses are the backbone of the Virginia economy and employ half of the Commonwealth’s private workforce; Flory Small Business Center, Inc., has ably served and supported the small business community in Northern Virginia for 25 years; and

WHEREAS, Flory Small Business Center, Inc. (the Flory Center), was established in 1991 by the Prince William County Industrial Development Authority to serve the needs of the region’s existing small businesses and start-up entrepreneurs; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, Virginia corporation whose tax-exempt status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service on the basis of “lessening the burdens of government”; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center is well served by an active volunteer board of directors, including Marion Wall, Patrick O’Leary, Steve Dawson, Frank Jones, Frank Mejia, Brian Gordon, and John Gregory, who together provide decades of professional experience to the Flory Center staff; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center is funded by Prince William County, the Prince William County Industrial Development Authority, and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park and leases offices located in the Ben Lomond Caretaker’s House for $1.00 per year from Prince William County; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center’s mission is business creation, retention, and expansion, and its services are offered free of charge; the Flory Center helps businesses and start-up entrepreneurs access capital, increase sales, and create and retain jobs in order to increase the local tax base; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center’s primary means of assisting businesses is through one-on-one consulting, and its small staff has provided consultations to more than 3,471 clients, who have created more than 5,661 jobs and saved more than 1,539 jobs; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center measures the results of its services by annually tabulating the economic achievements of clients exclusively in the year in which the center worked with them; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center has helped clients achieve more than $301,373,931 in capital investments and $353,896,290 in increased sales; clients have also generated $54,815,784 in state tax revenue and $64,684,179 in federal tax revenue; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center has provided workshop training and conference education to more than 7,594 attendees; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center is a 25-year resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the center’s president and chief executive officer was the recipient of the SBA’s Regional Administrator Choice Award; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center’s president and chief executive officer served for six years, the longest tenure allowed by law, on the SBA’s National Advisory Council, an 80-member national organization that serves as a business resource to the President of the United States and the United States Congress; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center’s president and chief executive officer served for many years as a judge for the SBA Small Business Awards at the state, regional, and national level; and

WHEREAS, in 1995, the National Association of Small Business Development Centers presented its President’s Award to the Flory Center’s president and chief executive officer, and it was the first national award ever given to a local center; there were 1,000 centers nationally at that time; and

WHEREAS, in 1996, the Flory Center received the first and, to date, only award given to a Small Business Development Center by the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the Flory Center’s president and chief executive officer was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce in Richmond in 2011 and re-elected in 2014; and

WHEREAS, in 2007, the Flory Center was awarded $32,500 in state funding to assist with securing a new facility, and the Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted in April 2015 to include $300,000 in their 2016 fiscal year budget to be used toward the funding of a new building for the center; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Flory Small Business Center, Inc., for its commitment to the region’s existing small businesses and start-up entrepreneurs in Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Flory Small Business Center, Inc., as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect and admiration for the center’s dedication to the small business community and economic development in the Commonwealth.