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Two State Bills; MiLEs – MicroLending Essentials comes to Bay Area

Two Exciting State Bills


Our advocacy work in Sacramento has gained a lot of traction in the last few months with two new bills introduced recently.

I’ve mentioned that the Governor’s FY 2018-2019 budget includes $20 million for small business technical assistance. In order to get the money out, it needs to be associated with a program that can distribute the money. Last week, Assembly Members Quirk-Silva and Cervantes introduced AB 2463, Small Business Assistance Act of 2018. We’re grateful to everyone who has been involved in this issue for recognizing the importance of investing in small business development. The bill lays out a framework on how to leverage federal dollars for small business assistance and creates the “California Small Business Assistance Program.” We will work with our partners in the state Small Business California and Small Business Majority to ensure that the final bill effectively and efficiently distributes the money to help the most California businesses.

Senator Glazer introduced SB 1235, what some are calling the ‘Truth in Lending Act.’ As an earlier supporter of the Business Borrower’s bill of rights we were thrilled to see this bill introduced as it will protect our small business borrowers by providing clear information about their loan.

This bill would require any person who engages in the business of commercial financing to, at the time of offering the commercial financing, provide to the prospective borrower a written statement showing in clear and distinct terms specified information regarding that transaction, including the total amount of fees, the amount provided, the APR related to that transaction, and policies regarding repayment or prepayment that apply to that transaction.

We will keep you posted on how you can support these bills in the coming months.

Microlending Essentials Comes to the Bay Area

Participants so enjoyed our first MicroLending Essentials, that we decided to hold it again, this time in the Bay Area. Join us for MicroLending Essentials on April 16-17, 2018 at the SBA offices in San Francisco. Sign up before March 23 to take advantage of the early bird rate of $350 for members; $550 for non-members. Prices go up by $100 on after that, so register now!

CAMEO members often ask us where they can send staff for microloan underwriting training. When we looked around, we didn’t find any that had evolved with current underwriting practices. So we designed a training ourselves.

For business coaching organizations: Is one of your goals to help business owners access capital? Are too many of your referrals to lenders denied? Does your staff know how to talk to a lender in lenders’ terms? This training will help your staff think like a lender so that your referrals experience a higher rate of success. In turn, you will be able to train your business clients in the key components most likely to get them qualified for financing.

Susan Brown, CAMEO’s microlending specialist with over 25 years of experience in lending, developed a training for microlending credit analysis, with input from some of the strongest lenders in the field today.

The training will consist of two days on microlending credit analysis including discussion and application to several case studies. Join us!

  • Train staff on underwriting microloans
  • Dialog with fellow lenders and compare notes
  • Learn from successful microlenders
  • Gain understanding on how to design an appropriate underwriting program for microloans.

Register now to take advantage of the early bird pricing.

Topics to be covered:

  • Microlending Underwriting:Microlending Goals, Underwriting Criteria, Support documents, Global Cash Analysis, Bank Statement Analysis, Credit History Analysis, Profit and Loss Statements, Projections, Underwriting Analysis, Writing Credit Memos
  • Case Studies: Participants will be given applications and supporting documents for three case studies and then be asked to write up the credit memo and recommendation for each.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

Member Kudos: Thumbtack is No. 23 on the 2018 World’s Most Innovative Companies list by Fast Company and CalNonprofit’s project GrantAdvisor was recognized a10 s one of the top in the Not-for-Profit sector for 2018.

State Survey: The California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) in partnership with the California Community Colleges Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research (COE) is leading an effort to help education and workforce training providers create or improve programs to respond to California’s needs for a skilled cybersecurity workforce. Please join us in our effort to conduct a substantive cybersecurity labor market analysis for California by filling out the survey and passing it on.

Funding Opportunity: The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and applications for the FY 2018 Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program).

For Your Farming Clients: Join California Farmlink for Growing Opportunity: Farm Finance Expo on March 28, 2018, 11:00am-5:00pm, in Sacramento. It’s one stop shopping for ag loans and financing resources. Meet Local Ag Lenders and Explore Financing Options. Learn How to Pitch a Farm Business for Financing. Manage Your Farm’s Finances (Instead of Your Finances Managing You).

Moving Main Street Forward: AEO’s microbusiness and microfinance conference is a must-attend event for professionals providing capital, technical assistance and other forms of trusted guidance to Main Street and microbusiness owners. The agenda will be packed with inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking plenaries and compelling breakout sessions designed to engage attendees in bold and provocative conversations on using inclusion, innovation and investment to move Main Streets across the country forward. See you in Detroit, Michigan, April 30 to May 2, 2018.

For Your Clients: California State Treasurer John Chiang officially rolled out CBIG.ca.gov, the California Business Incentives Gateway. The online gateway connects business owners and entrepreneurs to incentives to help them grow and create jobs. The CBIG site makes it easy for businesses expanding or locating in California to find and apply for incentives as part of a strategic business plan.

For Your Clients: The U.S. SBA announced the launch of the 2018 Emerging Leaders initiative for executives of small businesses poised for growth in emerging markets. Local area recruitment for the 2018 training cycle is currently ongoing at designated SBA District Offices. Classes are scheduled to begin this spring with specific dates differing by location. Interested small business owners can learn more regarding eligibility, how to apply, and class schedules at the SBA’s Emerging Leaders website. In California, classes will be held in Fresno, Glendale, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

New Report: The SBA issued “Financing Patterns and Credit Market Experiences: A Comparison by Race and Ethnicity for U.S. Employer Firms“. Hispanic and Black Americans are underrepresented in business ownership compared with their shares of the general population. Asians (73 percent) Hispanics (72 percent) and Blacks or African Americans (70 percent) rely on owner’s personal or family savings as a source of startup capital, while 65 percent of Whites relying on this source.

New Resource: The SBA’s SF District Office has launched a slack channel – The Business Support Network – that you are invited to join. Feel free to announce events and voice questions about where to send clients, how to handle specific types of businesses, find funding (for clients or yourselves), shape programming to serve business owners, and more. (Note: they had some technical difficulties, so if you signed up, you’ll need to sign up again.)