We can’t emphasize enough how critical your impact information is to our policy work on your behalf. So gather your data and fill out the microTracker census. Our deadline for the annual survey is July 31, 2013.
- Self-Employment Assistance Program
- Happy Small Business Week
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes a job announcement. CAMEO is hiring a committed, creative, and well organized consultant with deep connections to the California veterans’ community and knowledge
of small business development issues, to drive our Veterans Micro-Business Development Program.
Self-Employment Assistance Program
“The bill is dead, long live the bill,” says Claudia. We are sad to report that like many other bills, AB 152 Self-Employment Assistance Program (Yamada) has languished in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill would have allowed the unemployed to keep their benefits while starting their own businesses. We want to thank Asm. Yamada for her leadership and for being ahead of the curve on this issue. The proposed SEA program would have created 5,200 new businesses and 15,000 new jobs.
We regret that the State has missed the opportunity to receive $5.3 million from the federal government to help unemployed people create their own jobs. However, moving mountains takes a while. We made many friends in the last year and raised the stature of self-employment so that it is now in the state plan for the California Workforce Investment Board. We will continue to make sure that the self-employment trend is recognized by the Workforce System and work with EDD to find solutions.
In other California legislative news, on Monday AB 837 passed in the Senate’s Business and Professions committee on the Consent Calendar. The bill now heads to Senate Appropriations. This bill would formally codify the California SBDC Program and introduces accountability standards and reporting requirements. The bill provides the infrastructure for the state to provide matching funds for the network. However, there is no money allocated in this bill.
Happy Small Business Week
Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. Happy 50th Birthday NSBW!
CAMEO started celebrating last week, when Claudia won the Women in Business Champion from the SBA. Thanks tp Ron Fong of Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program. We issued/will issue three press releases this week to celebrate:
- Business Assistance Is First Step to Access Capital
- CAMEO Honors Self-Employment Champions
- Women Veteran Business Owners (to be published)
The Goodies
New opportunities for trainings, 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 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!
For Your Clients: STOPfakes, a national education campaign by several federal agencies including law enforcement and trade offices to help combat intellectual property (IP) theft here in the US and around the world, invites you and your clients to attend one of their 18 “Road Show” events to educate businesses across the country about the importance of protecting IP rights and the value that IP contributes to the American economy. As small businesses expand in exporting, trade and innovation, knowing the importance of IP will be critical. There are two in California on June 25, 2013 in Los Angeles and June 27, 2013 in San Diego.
Free Webinar: Friedman Associates hosts What Does it Take to Build Sustainable Micro-Businesses? on June 26th 11:00 am PT // 2:00 pm ET. Most practitioners agree it is the services offered after entrepreneurial training or a microloan that make the difference between success and failure. However, In designing advanced business services, we are are challenged to balance cost-effectiveness with measurable client outcomes. CAMEO member Marsha Baily of WEV is one of the presenters. Reserve your Webinar seat.
Grant Opportunity: The USDA is seeking applications from qualified organizations to provide technical assistance to rural businesses to help them expand and create jobs. The application deadlines for Rural Business Opportunity Grants are June 30, 2013 for partnership funds and June 28, 2013 for all other requests.
For Your Clients: Specialty Food is holding a story contest. Winners win an ad campaign and a trip to San Francisco. Deadline is July 12, 2013.
Grant Opportunity: PG&E is piloting an Economic Vitality Grant Program to invest up to $200,000 in programs designed to enhance local economic vitality—ranging from business incubation and growth to workforce development. Deadline is July 31, 2013.