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Scholarships Available for AEO Learning Conference

Scholarships for AEO

CAMEO is very pleased to sponsor seven CAMEO members for AEO’s 2015 Microbusiness Learning Conference, September 24-25 in Atlanta, Georgia. To apply for the scholarship, provide the following information in a one-page document and mail your complete application to Shufina English:

  • Title: AEO Leadership Conference, Atlanta
  • Applicant’s name, position, organization, and contact information.
  • How do you think this training will help you better serve your clients and/or your office team?
  • What specifically do you hope to gain from this training? Why?
  • What is your organization’s mission statement?
  • Provide a paragraph about your organization.
  • Provide a short description of your duties within your organization.
  • What is your Micro Enterprise training experience?
  • What is your microlending experience?

The learning conference will continue the work we did at the leadership conference in May. The conference is designed for front-line microbusiness professionals, and will focus on training, professional development and capacity building. The agenda is coming soon. Stay tuned!

Also, make your room reservation at the AEO group rate of $119 per night (expires September 2, 2015) at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport.

Be Counted – Microenterprise Census

It’s time to stand up and be counted. CAMEO members that fill out the Census by this Friday July 17, 2015 will receive $100 toward lunch for staff members, like Asian Business Association (at Egg Slut in LA’s Grand Central Market) and others did last year. If you’ve already filled out the census, email Andrew for more information on your ‘free lunch’.

Need help? Tamra Thetford of FIELD presented this user-friendly guide to completing and understanding the microTracker Census. And again, email Andrew, he’ll walk you through it if necessary.

House Passes Four Small Business Bills


The House passed four small business bills, including Microloan program modernization (more below).

  • H.R. 2499 increases capital access for veteran entrepreneurs by granting SBA loan guarantee fee waivers.
  • H.R. 2760 expands participation in the SBA Microloan Program by increasing the microloan intermediary lending limit to $6 million, permitting an SBA waiver of the 25/75 rule, extending the repayment terms for loans above $10,000 to a 10 year maximum, and provides an additional ability to offer lines of credit.
  • H.R. 1023 amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to increase the maximum outstanding leverage threshold from $225 million to $350 million. This would be made available by the SBA to two or more commonly controlled small business investment companies that are not under capital impairment.
  • H.R. 208 establishes an SBA loan program that allows a small business, homeowner, or renter located in a major disaster area during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 to apply for loans that would repair, rehabilitate, or replace damaged or destroyed property. In addition, the SBA would assist a small business that suffered economically because of the storm.

Next stop is the Senate.

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!

Collegial Kudos: Congrats to USDA’s Glenda Humiston, who was selected to lead University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Programs. As part of her new role, Humiston will oversee 1,350 people working in 60 county offices, nine Research and Extension Centers, and three administrative centers. She’s been a great champion of microbusiness in rural areas and a great friend to CAMEO.

Member Kudos: Congrats to Catherine Marshall in her new entrepreneurial endeavor. She just published The Easter Moose: One Family’s Journey Adopting through Foster Care, available at bookshops and online booksellers. Read an excerpt.

New Report: Our colleagues at Asset Funders Netork just released Women and Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers. The report finds wealth inequality between men and women at all ages, education levels, race, and ethnicity. Also, the report recommends programs and policies that can help women build wealth, including increasing business ownership (p. 16).

For Your Clients: The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) is holding a series of California Competes Tax Credit technical assistance workshops throughout the state starting July 14, 2015 and going through mid-August.

Professional Development Opportunity: The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund have two remaining workshops in their Expanding CDFI Coverage in Underserved Areas Capacity Building Initiative training series July 22-23, 2015 in Denver, CO and August 19-20, 2015 in Kansas City.

Funding Opportunity: The third-annual PG&E Economic Vitality Grant Program will support local job creation, workforce training, business development and other innovative programs that support local economic vitality and growth. It’s geared toward local government organizations, educational institutions and 501(c)(3) nonprofits throughout their service area. The online application is due July 31, 2015.

Industry Meeting: Save the date for OFN’s 2015 Western Regional Meeting September 17, 2015 at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (101 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105). This promises to be an engaging meeting where CDFI staff, Board members, partners, and others can network and learn more about what’s happening in the industry and in the region. Stay tuned for more information in August.