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Good Budget News, Yes Really

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  • SBA FY 2014 House Budget
  • Independent Workers
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes a study by our friends at CFED. They are working to help small businesses reduce vulnerability and position themselves for growth by studying their needs and want your help in finding businesses. Scroll down for a message to send your clients.

SBA FY 2014 House Budget (Ms. CAMEO Goes to DC, Part II)

When Claudia was back in DC last week, she held a briefing with 11 California legislative staff, and met with staff of the House Small Business Committee and House Appropriations Committee to discuss our budget priorities. Her efforts and those of AEO resulted in good news for the programs we advocate for – including restoring cuts from the WBC and SBDC programs and reinstatement of funding for PRIME! Besides the budget items, the accompanying report used strong language in support of non-profit business training programs and entrepreneurial training in general.

Note that this isn’t the final FY 2014 budget, but it is the one the House passed. That means it’s highly likely that Senate budget will come in at least at the House numbers. Learn more about the budget on our blog post: SBA FY14 House Budget.

Some of the budget highlights include:

  • Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): $112.5 million
  • Women’s Business Centers (WBC): $14 million
  • Microloan Technical Assistance: $20 million
  • PRIME: $3.5 million

Highlights from the accompanying report include:

  • The SBA’s request for $40 million to expand their high growth business initiative was not funded. CAMEO argued to use some of those funds to maintain funding for SBDC’s, PRIME and WBC’s.
  • The House funded SBDC’s, SCORE, WBC’s, Microloan Technical Assistance, HUBZone, Native American Outreach, and PRIME above the SBA requested amounts.
  • The Committee encourages SBA to expand the presence of WBC’s in the U.S. territories.
  • Usually agencies can transfer up to 5% of funds between programs. The House bill doesn’t allow the SBA to move money from one program to another without Congressional approval.
  • According to Martin Feeney of Madison Services Group, this is the first time the House Appropriations Committee has talked about non-profit entrepreneurial training programs.

Independent Workers

Carolyn Ockels and Steve King (see pic left) presented their research on self-employment, the State of Independence Report, at our annual meeting. They cited a “conscious structural shift and recognition of a new model of work and engagement” and that is self-employment. The number of independent workers grew from 16 million in 2011 to 16.9 million in 2012 and it is expected to grow by 35% over the next five years. Self-employment is definitely a significant labor market trend. Members then discussed the implications for their programs. We video-taped their presentation and the discussion to enable as many people as possible to benefit from this valuable information about our field.

While you’re on the cameomicrobiz YouTube channel, check out other CAMEO speaking engagements, success stories and your organization’s videos. If you have videos to submit, let Andrew Cole know.

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!

For Your Clients: Our friends at CFED are studying the needs of small businesses in order to recommend policies that will reduce vulnerability and position them for growth. Please send the following message to your clients:

Please take this 5-minute survey to learn more about your business’s financial strengths and vulnerabilities. When you complete the survey, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a prize in the form of a reward card, issued by MasterCard, with a value of $100. The reward card can be used for any purchase and transactions wherever MasterCard is accepted. If you have any questions about this survey or the study, you can contact: Kasey Wiedrich or
Lauren Williams.

CAMEO In The News: On July 12, 2013, Small Business File quotes Claudia about our 2013 Congressional briefing in DC and it’s topic –small businesses are the job creators of the future. On July 6, 2013 The New York Times published our letter to the editor about offering hope to the unemployed.

Media Opportunity: The Huffington Post wants to know what the federal budget cuts have meant to your organization. If you or someone you know has been affected by reductions to these or other programs, or has been laid off or furloughed, they’d like to hear your story. I’m going to collect them and submit them together. Email me by July 22, 2013. A few sentences is fine.

Take Action: Our friends at Women in Public Policy have two legislative actions for you to take. 1) Urge your Senators to pass S. 1188, which would create a clear and consistent definition of a full-time employee by changing the definition contained within the healthcare law to an individual who works 40 hours per week. 2) Urge your Representative to improve the Women-Owned Small Business Procurement Program and pass H.R. 2452 to grant contracting officers sole source authority in the WOSB procurement program.

Webinar Available: Claudia led a webinar for BALLE –Lessons Learned: Capital, Coaching, and Connection. The webinar explored technical assistance as the first step in the capital access process. It must be accompanied with entrepreneurship support and technical assistance that can get entrepreneurs ready for an infusion of capital, and help them succeed once they have it. Download the webinar for $10.

For Your Clients: Community Financial Resource Center is offering IDA’s for Los Angeles residents. CFRC can be a great referral source for low-income individuals and families with earned income who want to start or expand their small business. The total grant they receive at the end of 12-months is $2,500. CFRC is holding orientations on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings in July and August. Learn moreand access the schedule.

Healthcare Info: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are launching the Affordable Care Act 101 weekly webinar series. Small business owners can learn the basics of the Affordable Care Act and what it means for their company and employees, including insurance reforms, the small business health care tax credit, the new health insurance marketplaces, and employer shared responsibility provisions. Each week, SBA representatives will walk through the key pieces of the law so that small business owners can understand the facts and make the best, informed decisions they can about providing health insurance for their employees. The Affordable Care Act 101 will take place every Thursday from now (next one is July 25) through the opening of the marketplaces in October. Go to their website to register for The Affordable Care Act 101.

Grant Opportunity: PG&E is piloting an Economic Vitality Grant Program to invest up to $200,000 in programs designed to enhance local economic vitality—ranging from business incubation and growth to workforce development. Deadline is July 31, 2013.

For Your Clients: Walmart has kicked off a new installment of Get on the Shelf, a social, crowdsourcing competition developed by @WalmartLabs that gives entrepreneurs a chance to get noticed and sell their products on Walmart.com and potentially in select Walmart stores. Entrepreneurs, business owners and inventors can enter now through July 31 by submitting a video featuring their product.

For Your Clients: On Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Whole Foods Market will be hosting its second Local Vendor Summit at the Fort Mason Conference Center in San Francisco from 8:00am- 5:00pm.

Policy Resource: PolicyMap and Citi Community Development launched of My District Data, an interactive web-based tool that offers a simple yet powerful way to examine the state of every Congressional district based on economic, employment, financial, educational and housing conditions through a series of on-demand reports. Developed for legislators and their advisers, as well as community groups and local residents, the free tool aggregates a range of data — for the first time broken down to match the irregular borders of Congressional districts — to present a district snapshot intended to inform smart policy-making.