CAMEO’s Annual Meeting is in Sacramento, June 6-7, 2012. Book your hotel room at the discount rate until May 15, 2012.
In this week’s Must Know:
- The Appropriations Long Haul
- Member Kudos
- The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is the AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!
The Appropriations Long Haul
We are in for a long appropriations season. The word from DC is that we will be operating on a continuing resolution until after the elections. (No surprise.) That doesn’t mean we rest. It means we have more time to impress our case upon the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (House FSGG), the committee that decides on funding for the SBA and CDFI’s.
Here’s what we want you to do – write letters to the Subcommittee Chair Jo Ann Emerson and Ranking Member José Serrano to request their support for these programs, including PRIME, Microloan Program, WBCs, SBDCs, and the CDFI Fund.
We know that Rep. Serrano is listening because he came down hard on the SBA Director for cutting PRIME and TA funding. Remember last year we were able to save PRIME from extinction. Your letters do make a difference!
We’ve made it as easy as possible for you with AEO-provided sample letters and five little steps.
- Download the sample letters.
- Put on your letterhead.
- Personalize them with your organization’s impact.
- Fax them to Chair Emerson and Ranking Member Serrano.
- CC (can be by email): your representative, Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein, Martin Feeney and me.
- Sample letter to Chair Jo Ann Emerson
For Chair Jo Ann Emerson, fax your letter to (202) 226-6692 and send a copy of your letter to Ariana Sarar. - Sample letter to Ranking Member Jose’ Serrano
For Ranking Member é Serrano, fax your letter to (202) 225-6001 and send a copy of your letter to Laura Hogshead.
This persistence is what gives the Micro sector power and credibility. And a big thanks to the few of you who let me know you sent your letters. If you have sent your letters, but haven’t let me know, please do.
Member Kudos
Marsha Bailey, Women’s Economic Ventures Founder and CEO was selected as one of the Top 50 Women in Business by the Pacific Coast Business Times for the third year in a row. Yay!
Read about ACCION San Diego’s new opportunity with the New York Stock Exchange.
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!
Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. The Aspen Institute/FIELD, Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings.
Webinar: The Stanford Social Innovation Review hosts The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector on April 25, 2012, 11:00 a.m. -12:00 noon PDT // 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT. Harvard University’s Christopher Stone and Nathalie Kylander will discuss the changing role of brand in the nonprofit sector, and describe a new conceptual framework they have created – Nonprofit Brand IDEA – in which “IDEA” stands for brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics, and brand affinity. The webinar is based on their article “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector. The fee is $49 and you need to pre-register.
Micro National Conference: The AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!
For Your Clients (in SoCal – LA, Orange, Ventura and Riverside Counties): Count Me In (a Friend of CAMEO) hosts Urban Rebound Los Angeles Conference and Competition on May 10 and 11, 2012 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. You can register (only $49) for the conference and/or send to your clients – it’s a great opportunity. Find out about the pre-conference pitch parties so your clients can practice pitching their business (say that five times fast.)
Grant Opportunity: For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities.Applications for 2012 CED funding are due on June 5, 2012. Learn more and apply.
Resources for Women: The Department of Labor and Small Business Administration recently held a “Women Small Business Owners” conference call.