FAQs & Policies

Can I receive support in developing my business plan?  

A). Yes, we provide training and business counseling to assist you in writing your own business plans. Once you have your business plan ready for review, please submit a request for counseling on our website (CLICK HERE).  

Additional Business Plan Resources:

I have business tax related questions – does CBP offer support for this?

Yes, check out the resources below for assistance.  If you have a specific question, please submit a request for counseling on our website (CLICK HERE).

 Resources:

Are you the U.S. Small Business Administration?

No.  However, we are a resource partner funded by the SBA to provide training, business counseling, access to capital and facilities rentals to assist small business owners.

I took a class over 2 years ago; do I have to take it again?

In today’s ever-changing business climate it is highly recommended that you stay up to date on current business standards and practices.

Do I have to attend an orientation class to receive business counseling?

Our orientation is highly recommended as it provides you with an overview of all of our services as well as what resources and business counselors we have to best suit your needs.

Click here to choose and register for an orientation

How do I get certified as an 8a, minority, disabled person, women, or veteran-owned business?

On occassion, we offer classes on the many small business certifications.  Please check the class schedule.

You may also contact the Virginia Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) who specializes in providing these resources.

I need a loan or a grant for my business. Where do I go?

We offer an “Options for Funding” class that will provide you with many resources.  For financial counseling or small business funding contact Karlene@cbponline.org.

I am having trouble registering for a class. Where can I go for help?

Inquiries regarding class registration can be directed to the Training Coordinator.

Do you accept walk-in clients?

Unfortunately no, due to high volume of client workload our staff is unable to accept walk-ins.  If you would like to schedule an appointment regarding business counseling, room rentals, or anything else, please refer to the Contact Us section.

Do you have life coaches/mentors?

We provide business counseling services on specific business topics.  Those seeking coaches/mentors should contact DC SCORE for further assistance.

Can men attend the Women’s Business Center Classes?

Yes!  The Women’s Business Center provides assistance to ALL new small businesses established within the last two years.

Policies

Legal Notices

Access to and use of this site is subject to the following terms and conditions and all applicable laws.  All names, logos and marks appearing in this site, except as otherwise noted, are trademarks owned or used under license by Community Business Partnership (CBP).  You may download and print a copy of the material displayed on this site for your personal use for noncommercial purposes only (provided you retain all copyright and trademark notices), however, you may not modify, distribute, transmit or sell the contents of this site without the written permission of CBP.

CBP makes no warranties or representations, express or implied, about the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of this site including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. This site may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. CBP shall not be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect or punitive damages arising out of access to, inability to access, or any use of the content of this site or the content of any site(s) linked to this site, including without limitation any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property, even if CBP is expressly advised of the possibility of such damages.

Any communications you send to this site or otherwise to CBP by electronic or other means are nonproprietary. CBP shall be free to use the content of any such communications, including any ideas, inventions, concepts, techniques or know-how disclosed therein, for any purpose, including developing, manufacturing and/or the marketing of goods or services, unless you specifically request to be removed from such mailing lists. Please refer to the CBP Privacy Policy for further information on CBP’s data protection practices.

Use of this site for the posting or transmission (including communication outside this site) of any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or profane material or any material that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense or violate any law is strictly prohibited. CBP reserves the right to delete, modify or supplement the content of this site, including the content of this legal notice, at any time.

Photo & Video Consent and Release

Generally, the CBP requests presenters and clients to accept a general photo and video consent and release.  These are used specifically to market and promote the CBP’s services.  This release is found on our client intake forms and includes the following language:

I hereby grant permission, and the unrestricted right, to the Community Business Partnership, its representatives, agents and affiliates (collectively, “CBP”) to take and/or to use my name, or image or likeness of me, and the name, image or likeness of my company, in perpetuity in all media now known or hereinafter devised throughout the world, including but not limited to photographs, images, digital recordings, and video/audio recordings (collectively, the “photographs and video”). I also grant permission and the unrestricted right to CBP to take and/or use any of my verbal or written comments or testimony that I have made about any CBP class, seminar, or event, for promotional and grant/fundraising purposes, including, but not limited to, use of the same on all printed material and publications, websites, brochures, e-newsletters, electronic publications, public speeches, letters and other materials.

I agree that all negatives, prints, and digital reproductions and any reproductions now known or hereinafter known of the photographs are the full and absolute property of CBP, are owned by CBP, and I grant permission to CBP to use the same without any compensation to me or my company whatsoever.

I hereby waive, release and forever discharge CBP from any and all claims, liability actions or demands whatsoever arising from the use of my or my company’s photographs, comments or testimony, written or verbal, in connection with their use as provided in this Consent and Release.

Privacy

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for CBPonline.org.  The Community Business Partnership has agreed to notify you of:

  • What personally identifiable information of yours or third-party personal identification is collected from you through the website
  • The organization collecting the information
  • How the information is used
  • With whom the information may be shared
  • What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of the information
  • The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under biz-solutions.org control
  • How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.

How can you correct any inaccuracies in the information?
If you feel that this company is not abiding by its posted privacy policy, you should first contact:

Mark Scarano
Executive Director

6564 Loisdale Court, Suite 600
Springfield VA 22150
Email: mark@cbponline.org

Information Collection and Use
biz-solutions.org is the sole owner of the information collected on this site.  We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.  biz-solutions.org collects information from our users at several different points on our website.

Registration
In order to become a customer on this website, a user must first complete the registration form.  During registration a user is required to give their contact information (such as name and email address).  This information is used to contact the user about the services on our site in which they have expressed interest.

Order
We request information from the user on our order form.  Here a user must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date).  This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customers’ orders.  If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user.

Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user.  Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site.  Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates.  For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in with a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site.

Log Files
We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.  IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Links
This website contains links to other sites.  Please be aware that we [biz-solutions.org] are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.  We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information.  This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website.

Newsletter
If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as an email address.

Site and Service Updates
We also send the user site and service announcement updates.  Members are not able to unsubscribe from service announcements, which contain important information about the service.  We communicate with the user to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their account via email or phone.

Correction/Updating Personal Information
If a user’s personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code), or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove that user’s personal data provided to us.  This can be done at the member information page.

Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our Homepage so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.  If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users by way of an email.  Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner.  We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

Inclement Weather

The Northern Virginia area is always subject to adverse weather and other events that may necessitate the closure of the CBP offices.

We traditionally follow the George Mason University policy on closings, so please check the  GMU Announcements website, our own website, or call us at 703-768-1440 to confirm any schedule changes which affect our classes, room rentals, meetings or counseling sessions.

“Those who know, do. Those that
understand, teach.”

ARISTOTLE
Community Business Partnership of Springfield, VA