Save the Date for CAMEO’s Annual Member Meeting and Advocacy Day – June 7
Faces of Entrepreneurship Award Nominations are Open
Central Valley Goes to Market
And…Action! (new section)
The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a webinar to discuss “Expanding Employer-Based Small Dollar Loan Programs and the CDFI Industry: Learnings from the Knowledge Network” is on April 11, 2017 at 11:00am-12:30pm PDT.
Faces of Entrepreneurship Award Nominations are Open
Nominate your successful clients for the
Seventh Annual CAMEO Faces of Entrepreneurship Award. Last year’s winners were:
- Vicente Quintana, El Nopalito Produce (nominated by El Pajaro),
- Bethany Smith, B Team Solutions (nominated by Coachella WBC), and
- Rebecca Weston, Sacred Mountain Spa (nominated by JEDI).
This year it could be your client!
Legislators from the business owners’ districts will present the awards at our annual meeting. This is a great opportunity for your clients and helps us build strategic connections with our legislators. Award winners will be selected based on the following criteria: type of business, region, demonstrated growth and job creation, and contributions to their community. CAMEO covers travel costs to Sacramento.
Nominate your businesses by April 28, 2017.
Central Valley Goes to Market
Central Valley Goes To Market will take place on April 22nd at Reedley High School. Register or spread the word with your colleagues and clients in the Central Valley about
Central Valley Goes To Market! (Photo: Shufina English, CAMEO’s program director, and Eduardo Gonzalez director of CSU Fresno’s SBDC in front of the school.)
CAMEO, along with Fresno SBDC, have teamed up with the National Specialty Foods Association, with support from a grant from Fresno CDFI through USDA Rural Development. We will offer up a full day of learning about the specialty food industry: business and marketing opportunities, how to stay viable and competitive, and how to access appropriate financing. We are excited to bring this top-notch training to the Central Valley. Through this training, we and our members aim to reach home-based cottage kitchens, stimulating new jobs through specialty food entrepreneurship.
And…Action!
The new section of the
Must Know — And…Action! — is in response to the current political reality that demands that we participate more fully in the state and the federal legislative processes. We urge you to assign a staff person to be responsible for taking action.
April Break for Congress = District Visits
For the next two weeks, Congress is on spring break (April 7-24). If you haven’t already, make an appointment to
meet with your federal legislators to talk about the the need to adequately fund the programs that support our sector. This is the first step in a long FY 2018 budget process. We want to warn you that we will sound like a broken record and that you will feel like you’re repeating yourself over and over again. But… that’s what we’re going to do to make sure that our sector has the resources we need.
Find your
representative by typing your zip code in the box in the top right-hand corner. Request a meeting during the April recess. Also, request a district meeting with Senators
Diane Feinstein and
Kamala Harris. Once you’ve put in the request, follow up in a few days.
Here are some resources for you to download:
CalNonprofits has the results of
survey on the Trump administration’s impact on nonprofits. Some highlights:
- 58% of respondents said they have discussed how their constituents may be affected by new federal laws and policies;
- 42% said they are increasing their public policy advocacy work;
- 2/3 of respondents report increased levels of staff anxiety since the election; and
- 300 write-in comments about the impact on immigrants nonprofits serve.
State Efforts
Claudia Viek and Eric Weaver testified at the Senate Banking Committee in support of
SB 551 (Hueso), which strengthens the sustainability of the CalCAP program. It passed through the committee and now moves on to the Committee of Environmental Quality.
And a new bill has come to our attention that we’d like you to support – and all you have to do is email someone.
This year, our friends at National Council of La Raza, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and the Asian Law Alliance are sponsoring
AB 1109 (Kalra) that would
cap the interest rates on consumer loans between $2,500 – 10,000 at 24% APR. This bill is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly banking committee on Monday, April 17, 2017.
Email Liana at CRC to add your organization’s support (and who to list as the contact for your org) by Friday, April 7, 2017 (just need to email your support).
Please see this
Must Know for letters of support templates for state actions on AB 75 (counting 1099 income eligible for EITC), SB 551 (changes to CalCAP), and AB 778 (COIN).
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!
New Poll: Small Business Majority and Center for American Progress released a new poll on
small business owners’ views regarding the creation of publicly-administered family and medical leave insurance programs.
New Report: AEO recently released “
The Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America: Untapped Opportunities for Success.” The report assesses the economic strength and potential of Black-owned businesses, identifies myths, challenges and opportunities across a mosaic of segments, and suggests a plan for how investors and policymakers can increase the effectiveness of programs designed to support Black entrepreneurship.
Professional Development Opportunity: BALLE has opened the application process for their 2018
BALLE Local Economy Fellowship program. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (so apply early!) from February 2017 until the cohort is filled. Applicants can expect to be notified of their first round status (finalist, declined, or still under review) within 4-6 weeks of receipt of your application.
Webinar: Join CalNonprofits for “What to Know Before You Raise the Dough:
Essential Fundraising Rules and Regulations” on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 11:00am – 12:30pm. It’s free for members and $40 for not-yet-members. The process of raising money through special events, online fundraising, mail solicitation, and other methods is subject to city, state, and federal oversight. Find out how to follow the rules and protect your nonprofit’s tax exemption and your donors’ ability to get the benefit of a tax deduction.
New Report: OFN released “
Expanding Employer-Based Small Dollar Loan Programs and the CDFI Industry: Learnings from the Knowledge Network.” A
webinar discussing the report is on
April 11, 2017 at 11:00am-12:30pm PDT.
For Your Clients: Small Business Majority is hosting free a webinar –
Access to Capital 101: Funding Options to Start and Grow Your Business on April 19, 2017, and May 3, 2017 at 11:00am PDT // 2:00pm EDT. These free national webinars will help businesses navigate the funding landscape and connect with resources to help obtain the capital needed to start and grow your client’s business.
For Your Clients: The U.S. SBA announced the launch of the
2017 Emerging Leaders Initiative, a seven-month executive-level training series targeting small businesses with high-growth potential in under-served cities across the nation. Participating cities in California are Bakersfield, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. If you have clients that have annual revenues of at least $400,000, have been in business for at least 3 years, and have at least one employee, other than self, check out the program.
Professional Conference: Save the Date for OFN’s 2017 Small Business Finance Forum, June 15 and 16 at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park.
Professional Conference: Register for Credit Builders Alliance’s
2017 Credit Building Symposium, June 26-27 in Washington, DC.
Funding Opportunity: OFN announced their
NEXT Fund for Innovation, a pilot that will provide flexible capital in amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to CDFIs with innovative ideas. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis now through
June 30, 2017. The fund is open to all qualifying CDFIs, including non-OFN Members and past NEXT Awards recipients.]]>