CAMEO is excited to announce a new member benefit that adds value to your membership! Drum roll… As you may have heard, CAMEO Academy is our online learning center. The following sections are featured on our landing page: CDFI Incubator, CDFI National Academy, and FREE CAMEO Courses. We now have a Members Only section that is live! If you are
Category: news
Microbusiness Bills in the 2021-22 California Leg Season
The 2022-23 legislative session was successful for CAMEO. CAMEO supported 17 bills, 11 were signed into law by Governor Newsom, and 6 bills died in the legislative process. Out of the 17 bills, 9 were CAMEO priority bills, meaning they had direct impact on our members , the microbusiness ecosystem or small and micro businesses
CAMEO’s Strategic Framework for 2023-2025
CAMEO 2023-2025 Strategic Framework Download the framework to learn more. INCUBATION: Build the CAMEO Academy into a national leader in micro enterprise incubation that offers training and capacity building support for all players in the ecosystem. Foster micro enterprise ecosystem building through the growth of organizations and collaboratives in California as well as statewide coalitions nationally.
CAMEO Holiday Gift Guide 2022
After a difficult two years, show your love to small businesses this holiday shopping season. To help you in that endeavor, many CAMEO members are putting together guides and lists of their small business clients to make it as easy as possible to find the perfect gift for family and friends while keeping our local
CAMEO Awarded $2M Grant to Launch Country’s First CDFI Shared Services Center
CAMEO has been awarded $2 million from Citi Foundation’s Community Finance Innovation Fund. With the new funding, CAMEO will launch the country’s first Shared Services Center for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which will help the mission-driven lenders strengthen their organizations to serve growing small business demand for their services. “CDFIs proved their worth as economic first
Unmasking Economic Justice for Small Business Recovery
Last week CAMEO hosted our annual Microlenders Forum 2022 in person! More than 70 small business lenders came together to explore our theme for this year, “Unmasking Economic Justice for Small Business Recovery”from different angles, including innovations in equitable lending, fostering support for accessing capital, and more. After that warm welcome Carolina moderated a discussion
Latino Entrepreneurship
Last month, the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (CHCC) hosted their annual convention in Oakland. For three days, small business owners, service providers, and advocates – including many CAMEO members – engaged, networked and learned how they can fit into the small business ecosystem to help small business owners succeed. I was fortunate to attend,
Commitment to Launch National CDFI Academy
CAMEO has committed at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2022 Meeting today to launch a National Community Development Financial Institution Academy (CDFI) Academy that will provide professional training and resources to thousands of CDFI staff members. CDFIs earned their place on the national stage when they ensured that entrepreneurs of color had access to government
Yordanos Asmelash Haile, Asmara Cafe
Asmara Cafe specializes in traditional brewed Eritrean and Ethiopian coffee and food such as chicken kilwa, foule and sambusas. Owner Yordanos Asmelash Haile is a first-generation American having immigrated to the U.S. from Eritrea in East Africa. She aims to highlight her cultural flavors through the menu at her coffee shop.
Increasing Transparency in Fintech Takes the State in Congressional Hearing
On July 13, 2022 the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations held a hearing titled: “Fintech and Transparency in Small Business Lending.” Fintech is the technology and innovation that are changing the way banking and lending are done. Traditional loans from traditional banks take weeks to complete, not hours