CAMEO formally launched its National CDFI Academy during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Convening in New York in September 2022. As our CEO Carolina Martinez attends the Clinton Global Initiative Convening in New York City this week, we’d like to reflect on CAMEO’s commitment to the National CDFI Academy one year later.
Our Commitment to Action establishes a National CDFI Academy to provide high quality training and professional development to micro and small business lending CDFI’s. The Academy will educate 5,000 staff from 400 CDFIs who will provide $500 million to 20,000 diverse small business owners.
- Since the Academy’s launch, CAMEO has developed and delivered the curriculum for the first 6 courses from the 45-course catalog on these topics: CDFI Fund Basics, SBA Microloan Program Basics and a 4-Course Series on Strategic Management Framework.
- The courses have been well received with high evaluations from attendees from all over the country. Four instructors delivered the courses. 85 unique individuals have been trained from 59 lending organizations.
- CAMEO found that in some instances staff members were trained at multiple courses. The CDFI Fund Basics course was delivered both in person once as well as virtually once and are each 2-3 hours long. The other courses were all delivered virtually.
- CAMEO has utilized the promotion and connections garnered at CGI to successfully conduct targeted outreach and bring awareness about the National CDFI Academy to funders, investors, and CDFIs around the country.
- CAMEO utilized social media and online marketing methods as well as individual outreach to share news about the upcoming classes to promote registration for each course.
- CAMEO has applied for significant grants to support the continued work of the National CDFI Academy and has begun plans to develop the curriculum for the next three courses which will cover Governance and will be delivered in 2023.
U.S. SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman recently announced the awardees of the 2023 Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME) grant awards. CAMEO is excited to announce that we are one of the recipients and we will be using funds from the PRIME grant to expand the National CDFI Academy, offering 20 courses in the next year including:
| CDFI Fund | 1 course |
| SBA Microloan Intermediary | 2 courses |
| CDFI Governance | 3 courses |
| CDFI Strategic Management Framework | 4 courses |
| CDFI Microlending Loan Origination | 6 courses |
| Portfolio Management | 4 courses |
To learn more about the National CDFI Academy please contact Emily Gasner.