In this Must Know…
- Annual Meeting Highlight #1 – Advocacy Meetings
- Annual Meeting Highlight #2 – Engaging Your Clients in the Gig Economy
- Take Action: State and Federal Budget
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a new Federal Reserve report – “2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms.”
Advocacy Meetings for the Annual Meeting
Register for our annual member meeting on June 5-6 in Sacramento.
On Wednesday morning we will visit legislators to give our support for small business development in the state budget (see below), truth in lending, and a few other pieces of legislation. Talking points will be provided in next week’s Must Know and we’ll go over them to answer any questions before heading off to the visits. Please make your own appointments between 11:00am and 1:00pm. Here’s how:
- Find contact information for your assembly member(s) and your senator.
- Send a written request to the scheduler as well as call the office.
- If the legislator is not available, ask for a meeting with the chief of staff.
After the visits we’ll gather for a no-host lunch to debrief, answer questions, and pass on any follow-ups.
If you are from an area that only has one representative in each house, coordinate with other CAMEO members who may be attending. If you are from a large area that has many representatives, we will divide and conquer. Contact Andrew, who will help coordinate with other members who will be going.
And if you’re not going to the annual meeting, scroll down to the ‘Take Action’ section to learn how you can be a micro sector champion.
Visit our webpage for Thriving in Transition to learn more about the sessions, an updated agenda and logistics.
Engaging Your Clients in the Gig Economy
Worker-owned cooperatives are becoming a ‘thing’ says a recent article at Fast Company. And because everything is going online, why not a cooperative platform for gig workers?
One of the concerns of the ‘gig economy’ is that work on platforms such as Uber, Task Rabbit, Fivr, etc. may result in a race to the bottom for entrepreneurs in lower/moderate income sectors. The challenge is to help this population manage their multiple income streams so that they can survive and thrive and achieve viable incomes—and ultimately create wealth.
One of CAMEO’s roles is to help our members navigate and serve this new cohort. At our annual meeting learn how cooperative structures can help your clients start their businesses alongside a like-minded community as the future of work gravitates toward more and more freelancers. Rani Langer-Croager, founder of Uptima Business Bootcamp and Joshua Danielson, founder of Loconomics will cover the features and benefits of the cooperative model for your clients and brainstorm ways that CAMEO members can partner to create an ecosystem of support for your solopreneur clients.
State and Federal Budget Update
State Budget Update via Toni Symonds of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy – (we’re almost at the finish line, hang in)
This week, Assembly Budget Subcommittee 4 approved $23 million for federal small business technical assistance centers.
- $17 million for supplementation funding for federal small business technical assistance centers which can show they have the ability to draw down all funds identified in their federal contracts.
- $3 million for Access to Capital programs through SBDCs. This is a continuation of prior year funding.
- $3 million for counseling and workshops provided through WBCs, MBDCs, PTACs, and VBOCs.
Thanks to Assembly Members Quirk-Silva and Cervantes who took leadership on these budget appropriations! Both the Senate and Assembly seem to be on track to approve $20 million (#1 and #2 above), which means these items will not be conference items.
As the additional $3 million for WBCs, MBDCs, PTACs, and VBOCs is a new request made after the May Revise, the item will go to Conference Committee. This $3 million is intended to assist these centers to fully draw down federal funds. Stay tuned for details on how you can help educate the Conference Committee Members on the importance of funding these centers.
Please download this letter of support and email asap to Toni Symonds with a cc to Heidi and your state legislators (click link to find them.)
Federal Budget:
The House Appropriations subcommittee that governs the CDFI Fund and the SBA programs marked up the appropriations for FY 2019 (bill text). This is the first step in the budget process. Even though the dollar amount for the CDFI Fund came in below our request, we’re happy to see that the appropriations subcommittee didn’t zero it out as the President requested. For the most part our other items remained at FY 2018 levels.
| Program | FSGG FY19 Bill | CAMEO Request |
|---|---|---|
| Treasury CDFI Fund | $191M (FY2018=$250M) | $300M |
| SBA Microloan – Lending | $42M (FY2018=$36M) | $44M |
| SBA Microloan – Technical Assistance | $31M (FY2018=$31M) | $31M |
| SBA PRIME | tbd (FY2018=$5M) | $10M |
| SBA WBC | $18M (FY2018=$18M) | $21.75M |
| SBA SBDCs | $130M (FY2018=$130M) | $140M |
Next week is the May recess. Call your Senators and Representatives and advocate for our budget items. You can download an easy to follow May recess packet.
In other federal news, the House of Representatives passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155), also known as the “Banking Bill” on a bipartisan basis. This comes after Senate passage of the same bill earlier this year and the President is expected to sign it into law soon. Basically, Congress voted to loosen regulations for banks with up to $250 billion in assets, which could spell trouble for fair lending practices.
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!
May is also California Small Business Month! 3.8 million small businesses that call our state home. Shop local! Download California’s small business profile.
New Report: The Federal Reserve released “2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms.” Learn more about how small business owners nationwide are faring, including their credit needs and challenges. The report examines the results of an annual survey of small business owners nationwide and focuses on small employer firms, businesses with 1-499 full- or part-time employees.
Funding Opportunity: The application is now available for Community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Matching Grant Program. The deadline is May 31, 2018.
Funding Opportunity: The US SBA has released the Request for Proposal for the PRIME Grant. The deadline is June 1, 2018.
Professional Development:The Federal Reserve Board is accepting applications from individuals who wish to serve on the Community Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC advises the Board on issues affecting consumers and communities and complements two of the Board’s other advisory councils—the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and the Federal Advisory Council—whose members represent depository institutions. Applications are due June 15, 2018.
Professional Conference: Join Opportunity Finance Network for the Small Business Finance Forum on June 26-27, 2018 at the JW Marriott in Chicago, IL.
Professional Conference: Save the date for OFN’s 2018 Western Regional Meeting July 18 in Denver at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City – Denver Branch.
New Report: PPIC published “Immigrants in California.” Our state is home to more than 10 million immigrants-about a quarter of the nation’s foreign-born population. The state economy increasingly depends on immigrants to meet demand for highly educated workers, but it also continues to rely on immigrants with little formal education.
New Report: Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform released “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Implications for Small Businesses” that argues that the new tax laws put small businesses at a disadvantage to large businesses.
New Report: Amazon released its first-ever Small Business Impact Report which found more than 1 million U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses are selling on Amazon. That report needs to be digested along with the loss of local tax revenue and what happens to Main Street that was reported in Amazon and Empty Storefronts: The Fiscal and Land Use Impacts of Online Retail.
New Report: Accion in the U.S. and Opportunity Fund recently released a groundbreaking report that examines the impact of mission-based small business lending services on borrowers’ businesses, their household financial security, and their overall quality of life.
New Report: The SBA released their state small business profiles, download California’s.
New Report: The Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, New York, Dallas, and Richmond issued the 2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Disaster-Affected Firms. This is the first in a series of reports this year examining the results of an annual survey of small business owners. 61 percent of affected firms had revenue losses ranging from $1-$25,000, and 35 percent had revenue losses over $25,000.