In this Must Know…
- Annual Meeting Highlight – The Internet of Micro
- Annual Meeting Highlight – Meet New Faces of CAMEO
- Take Action: State and Federal Budget
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a free webinar – The California Women’s Well-Being Index: Advancing Gender Justice Through Increased Employment, Earnings, and Economic Security – on Thursday, June 7, 2018 from 1:00-2:30pm.
Advocacy Meetings for the Annual Meeting
Today is the last day to register for our annual member meeting on June 5-6 in Sacramento.
Tech and the Internet are permanent fixtures in our lives. Period. At the annual meeting, we’ll explore several ways how they are being incorporated into the micro sector by your peers.
- Inner Secrets of Online Lending Platforms: Online lending has expanded into every area of business lending and we need to know how online lending affects our clients. Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of loans from online lenders.
- Crowdfunding the Capital Gap for Micro: Everyone seems to know about crowdfunding these days, but how does this new fundraising tool really work? Crowdfunding can play a significant role in filling the capital gap for those looking to launch new businesses and have benefits (like establishing a customer base) that help make a business more resilient and agile.
- Online Learning is Here to Stay: Learn “The Seven Essentials to Create and Deliver Online Training and Consulting that Engages Participants and Builds Community.”
- Tech Tools: Explore two free tools that connect small businesses with accessing responsible capital and becoming loan ready.
Visit last week’s Must Know to learn about our advocacy day and serving the self-employed independent entrepreneurs of the new era workforce.
Visit our webpage for Thriving in Transition to learn more about the sessions, an updated agenda, and logistics.
New Faces of CAMEO
This year has brought many new people into the fold. Of course, there’s our new CEO – Carolina Martinez. Carolina’s been in the role for almost half a year (already?!). Her goal is to understand clearly the value we provide to our members and business owners in the New Era and make stronger connections while encouraging more engagement. She looks forward to meeting those of you she hasn’t met yet and forging those connections with those she has.
Also, we want to announce a new member of our team! Daniela Fernandez-Ulen is our new Communications and Marketing Associate. Daniela comes with nine years of branding and marketing experience, including social media, copywriting, public relations, and content creation. Her official start date is on June 11, but you’ll meet her at the annual meeting. Please say hello.
One of Carolina’s goals is to expand the board of directors and bring in new perspectives that will help strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The nominating committee appointed by our board put forth the following candidates. Upon confirmation, they will join the board in January. Our annual meeting is your chance to meet them in person.
- Louis Caditz-Peck, Lending Club
- Julian Canete, California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Joshua Danielson, Loconomics Cooperative
- Charles Eason, Small Business Sector Navigator for the California Community Colleges Economic and Workforce Development Program
- Mark Herbert, Small Business Majority
- Kristin Johnson, Northern California Regional SBDC Lead Center
- Fred Mendez, MFUG Union Bank
State Policy Update
As you might know Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (our legislative champion) wrote a letter to the budget subcommittee in charged of the Go-Biz budget requesting $3 million budget augmentation to the GO-Biz budget for the purpose of administering a grant program for Women’s Business Centers, Veteran Business Outreach Centers, Minority Business Development Agency Business Centers, and Procurement Technical Assistance Programs. The item needs to go to the Budget Conference Committee (see below).
We’re asking for another letter of support directed at the Budget Conference Committee. It should only take three minutes of your time. Please download this letter of support and email asap to Toni Symonds with a cc to Heidi and your state legislators (click the link to find them.) Deadline is June 6, but the earlier the better.
If you have a pre-existing relationship with any member of Conference Committee, can you please include them on your cc your letter of support as well. Budget Conference Committee Members:
- Assemblymembers Phil Ting (Chair), Joaquin Arambula, Richard Bloom, Rocky Chavez, and Jay Obernolte
- Senators Holly J. Mitchell (Chair), Nancy Skinner, Richard Roth, John M.W. Moorlach, and Jim Nielsen
In other state news, California’s net neutrality bill – SB 822 – passed the California Senate and now heads to the Assembly in June. The state Senate also passed a bill that will create a state bank for the cannabis industry.
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.
Free Webinar: Join the Women’s Foundation of California on Thursday, June 7, 2018, from 1:00-2:30 pm to discuss The California Women’s Well-Being Index: Advancing Gender Justice Through Increased Employment, Earnings, and Economic Security.
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.
For Your Young Clients: Youth Venture Project is a 5-day Start-Up Bootcamp 14-18-year-old students who have a business idea they wish to develop and pursue. The Bootcamp will help them build and strengthen their business ideas and plans. Following the Start-Up Bootcamp, 5 students will be selected to participate in the Start-Up Success Competition on July 17th to compete for a $2,500 grand prize. Deadline to apply is June 25, 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 the 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.