In this Must Know…
- Small Business Recovery and Resilience After a Disaster
- Fill Out The Census and Treat Staff to Lunch
- Take Action: Summer District Meetings With Federal Legislators
- Recruit Readers: Take the Summer challenge and get five people to sign up for CAMEO’s Must Know and help expand the influence of the microbusiness sector.
- Happy National Black Business Month!
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a new Federal Reserve report – “Browsing to Borrow: Mom & Pop Small Business Perspectives on Online Lenders.”
Small Business Recovery and Resilience After a Disaster
Register for Small Business Recovery and Resilience After a Disaster on Thursday, August 16, 2018, at 2:00 pm.
The fires raging up and down the state have proved devastating to many communities and has forced evacuations. Our thoughts go out to our friends in Redding, Mendocino, and Lake County – as well as all the other areas that are experiencing the effects of the fires.
After last year’s fire season and the start of this year’s, we’re living in a new normal. Last July saw 112 fire incidents, the year before 24. Fires and other disasters (earthquakes, floods, etc.) have a profound effect on local businesses.
Don’t wait until it’s too late, prepare now. To help you do that we’re gathering a panel of disaster program experts and CAMEO members that have had to respond to “Declared Disasters” and have experience delivering the appropriate services to their clients that have been affected.
To get an idea of how WEV responded last year, read “The Role of Business Assistance in Disaster Recovery Efforts.”
Fill Out The Census and Treat Staff to Lunch
If you are not the person in charge of submitting data for your organization, please forward this email to whomever that might be. We’ll be forever in your debt.
FIELD’s microTracker census is open! CAMEO partners with FIELD at the Aspen Institute to conduct a census of California’s microbusiness programs using the microTracker platform. Your impact data proves your value to your funders and constituents and helps you to build the best organization possible. So gather your info and log in. You have two incentives:
- From FIELD: if your data is uploaded and approved by August 30, they will upgrade your microTracker subscription from basic to premium for one year, which gives you access to data analysis tools and reports to share with your board and funders.
- From CAMEO: if you fill out the Census, CAMEO will treat you and your staff to a free lunch. Email Andrew for details. Last year Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program staff went to Darya’s in West Los Angeles.
You rely on CAMEO to advocate on behalf of the sector. We rely on you for your data. This data fuels our advocacy and supports our members at the state and national level. The better data we have, the stronger our case is, and the easier it is to express the vital role MDOs play in the small business sector.
Check out our webinar to help you through the process “Data Collection: Make the Case for Funding and Get It Right From Intake To Reporting.”
You can also participate in EntrepreneurTracker for 2018. FIELD at the Aspen Institute is continuing enrollment for the 2018 EntrepreneurTracker client outcomes survey. Indicate your interest, and they will reach out to you with more information. Training starts in late September.
Take Action: Summer District Meetings With Federal Legislators
On Friday, July 27, Congress adjourned for a five-week recess. Your legislators will be in their districts and states to meet with constituents, like you, to share updates on their efforts in Washington, D.C. They are eager to learn about how these efforts are impacting you. Take advantage of this opportunity to continue our advocacy work by engaging with your Members of Congress. We have two asks this summer:
- Support SBA’s Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME). The House passed their appropriations funding for this program for FY2019 at the same level as FY2018, which was $5 million. The Senate version, which was unanimously approved in committee, cut funding for the PRIME Program to $2.5 million. This bill now awaits a vote by the full Senate.
- Although the Department of Labor (DOL) stated that entrepreneurship training is covered by Performance Accountability in Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs, DOL has yet to release examples of “supplemental wage data” to be included in performance metrics. Please ask your members to urge DOL to view entrepreneurship as job creation.
Download the Summer Federal Recess Packet for 2018.
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!
Partner Kudos: Happy 65th Birthday to the SBA!
New Report: The Federal Reserve Board and the Cleveland Fed recently published “Browsing to Borrow: Mom & Pop Small Business Perspectives on Online Lenders.” The report examines small business owners’ perceptions of online lenders and their understanding and interpretation of the information that online lenders use to describe their credit product. One very important finding: participants cited APR as one of the most important factors in understanding the true cost of a product.
Member Kudos / For Your Clients: CDC Small Business Finance developed a primer for small business who “Want to Get an Online Small Business Loan?” It’s a great resource to share with all your clients!
For Your Clients: Greenlining invites you to take the 2018 Survey of U.S. Latino Business Owners. Every year, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) surveys thousands of Latino business owners across the country to measure the critical impact Latino entrepreneurs have on the U.S. economy. Let your clients know that if they fill out a survey, they will have a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card (for completed surveys).
Grant Opportunity: With the support of JPMorgan Chase, NALCAB – National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders will provide grants of $40,000 – $50,000, technical assistance, and training to up to ten non-profit organizations for a period of 18 months to develop and implement data- and community-driven action plans for equitable development. Plans will prevent involuntary displacement and increase access to wealth generating assets for low-income communities through strategies including, but not limited to, affordable housing and/or commercial real estate development, policy development and advocacy, affordable housing and/or small business lending, housing services and programs, small business development, and community engagement. Download the Request for Proposals: Equitable Neighborhood Development Planning. The deadline is August 5, 2018.
Funding Opportunity: Applications are open for AEO’s Tapestry Project. The project includes two opportunities: 1) Tapestry Project Innovation Registry (TPIR) will register your project to help broaden the reach of your organization’s work to funders, investors and other potential collaborators; and 2) the Tapestry Project Action Lab will support collaborative funding contracts, with awards of up to $50,000, organized around a shared business development objective that addresses the interlinkage of the three barriers for Black businesses reaching their potential. Click on the website for more details. The deadline is August 7, 2018.
Professional Opportunity: OFN is accepting nominations for the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance. Nominations are due August 13, 2018.
CAMEO Webinar: NALCAB hosts CAMEO for “Using Microloan & Community Advantage to Strengthen your Small Business Programs” on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, noon PT. Susan Brown and Mark Quinn will be giving an introduction to both SBA programs for the NALCAB audience. Feel free to join!
Professional Meeting: The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the counties of Alameda, San Francisco, and San Mateo partnered with two CAMEO members – Working Solutions and Opportunity Fund – to develop a microloan program that provides capital for nail salons to become recognized as Healthy Nail Salons. Learn about the results of the pilot, and hear the story of how unlikely partners came together to promote the health of low-income nail salon workers. Register for “Expanding Access to Capital to Advance Healthy Nail Salons” on Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 10:00am-12:00noon.
Funding Opportunity: You can watch Go-Biz’s Small Business Technical Assistance Expansion Program (SB TAEP) Pre-Bid Webinar. Go-Biz also created a new page on the GO-Biz website that contains the Program Announcements for SB TAEP, the Capital Infusion Program, and the Small Business Technical Assistance Program (SB TAP). Applications are due for the TAEP program on August 24, 2018.
For Your (Young) Clients: BizWorld is hosting the Girlpreneur competition during the WorldWideWomen Girls’ Festival at Santa Clara University on Sunday, October 6, 2018. They are inviting girls ages 8-18 to apply to pitch their business ideas to our panel of expert judges and compete for the Grand Prize of $1,000! The application deadline is September 2, 2018.
Professional Conference: Join Prosperity Now’s 2018 Prosperity Summit on September 5-7, 2018 in Maryland.
Professional Development: Opportunity Finance Network will hold Executive Training for CDFI Board Members on Thursday, September 27, 2018, in Jacksonville, FL. This is an executive-level course designed to strengthen high-performing CDFI board leadership.
Professional Conference: The 34th OFN Conference – “CDFIs: Agents of Change” – takes place October 8-11, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago.
Got Federal Funds: The US General Services Administration has changed their policies regarding the online System for Award Management. As of April 27th, all users must submit a notarized letter naming an Entity Administrator to the Federal Services Desk in order to activate their sam.gov registration. Any organization applying for federal or state funding through grants.gov is required to have a current registration with sam.gov in order to submit their application, so make sure to check your account! More information, including a template for the notarized letter, click the link.
New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy release “One Year of Equity Crowdfunding: Initial Market Development and Trends.”
New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy Research release “Why Do Businesses Close“, using U.S. Census Bureau data, and found that over the last 25 years, about 7–9 percent of employer firms close every year and a slightly higher share open. Many reasons for closing are personal.
Free Webinar: EARN hosted “Big Data on Small Savings.” Click to download the slides.