- Annual Member Meeting, June 5-6 – Registration and Session Proposals
- Faces of Entrepreneurship Award Nominations
- Take Action: Money for Micro Business
- Join us for MicroLending Essentials on April 16-17, 2018 at the SBA offices in San Francisco. Sign up before March 23 to take advantage of the early bird rate!
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight is two webinars next week on the gig economy and commercial kitchens. Scroll down for more information.
Annual Member Meeting, June 5-6 – Registration and Session Proposals
Each year, CAMEO members gather in Sacramento to discuss the wider trends in our field and meet with legislators to advocate for the micro sector. Internally at CAMEO, it’s been a year of transition and external forces are rapidly shifting. So we thought it fitting to organize this year’s meeting around the theme – “Thriving in Transition.”
Join us on June 5-6, 2018 in Sacramento for Carolina’s first annual meeting, capacity building, networking, fun, and advocacy for the sector (see the Take Action section below!) Register for Thriving in Transition.
We’ve changed the format back to two days. The first will concentrate on capacity building and the second on advocacy.
Because we want to hear from you, this year to shake things up, we are seeking breakout session proposals from our members to explore transition in three areas.
- Training the New Era Workforce of Independent Entrepreneurs – What are you doing to serve this growing population?
- Nuts and Bolts: How have your fundraising, marketing and outreach, strategies changed? What do we need to do differently regarding policy or data collection?
- Innovation in Response: How have your products and services responded to changes in your geographical area or in response to changes in the economy/political climate at large?
Learn more and submit a session proposal. The deadline for submissions is April 6, 2018. CAMEO will notify applicants if their proposal has been accepted by April 13, 2018.
Faces of Entrepreneurship Award Nominations
Nominate your successful clients for the Eighth Annual CAMEO Faces of Entrepreneurship Award. Last year’s winners were:
- Tyrone Botelho and Tiffany Hoang, Circle Up Education (nominated by Skys the Limit aka Youth Business USA) and
- Javier Zamora, JSM Organics (nominated by California FarmLink).
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.
Nominate your businesses by April 20, 2018.
Take Action: Money for Micro Business
I’ve mentioned that the Governor’s FY 2018-2019 budget includes $20 million for small business technical assistance. In order to get the money out, it needs to be associated with a program that can distribute the money. Assembly Members Quirk-Silva and Cervantes introduced AB 2463, Small Business Assistance Act of 2018. We’re grateful to everyone who has been involved in this issue for recognizing the importance of investing in small business development. The bill lays out a framework on how to leverage federal dollars for small business assistance and creates the “California Small Business Assistance Program.” We are working with our partners in the state Small Business California and Small Business Majority to ensure that the final bill effectively and efficiently distributes the money to help the most California businesses.
It’s time for your letters of support! Please download the support letter for AB 2463, put it on your letterhead, edit as necessary (examples are on page 2), pdf it and send it to me by April 4, 2018.
And on the federal side, Congress finally passed the FY2018 budget and . Our programs did okay, most did not see substantial cuts. More on this next week.
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!
Member Kudos: CDC Small Business Finance won the SBA’s prestigious Jody C. Raskin Microlender of the Year award. Congrats!
Free Webinar: Join “Gig Economy 101: Navigating the Modern Workforce” on March 28, 2018 at 11:00am PT. What is the gig economy? How did we get here? Where are we headed?
Free Webinar: Join NALCAB for “Commercial Kitchens, Mercados and Place-Based Economic Development” on March 29, 2018 at 12:00noon PT. Hacienda CDC from Portland, Oregon, and La Cocina, from San Francisco, California will share their insights on launching and operating successful commercial kitchens, and the Portland Mercado, and how these models fit into a broader economic development strategy.
When: March 29th, 2018 2pm Central
New Report: California NonProfits share how the California nonprofit community responded in their 2017 annual report: “Strengthening the Ecosystem for Nonprofits in California.”
New Report: NAWBO released a white paper – “Spotlight on H.R. 5050: The Bill that Changed Everything for Women Business Owners”. The paper reflects on the provisions that transformed the course for women business owners and highlights the current areas for improved policy and better women involvement.
New Report: The National Women’s Business Council has released a report – “Understanding the Landscape: Access to Capital for Women Entrepreneurs.” Join them for their second quarter public meeting in Fiscal Year 2018 on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, from 11:00am-12:30pm PT // 2:00pm-3:30pm ET.
New Report: Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, released a report titled: “Tackling the Gender Gap: What Women Entrepreneurs Need to Thrive.” This timely study draws on interviews with 14 female entrepreneurs, who detail the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, to highlight current initiatives and provide recommendations to eliminate the unique barriers confronting women-owned small businesses.
Professional Networking: Join the CDFI Women’s Network (CWN) on the CDFI Connect Community! Login and navigate to the all communities page, find the CDFI Women’s Network community and click the green join button in the upper right corner. For assistance, please email community@ofn.org. CWN is an independent, women-led, volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the advancement of women who work for CDFIs or for organizations that support the Community Development Finance industry.
Future of Work MeetUps: California Forward is hosting a series of Future of Work Meetups to talk about how artificial intelligence, the rise of gig economy platforms, and a new wave of automation will further change the future of work and the skill sets required to thrive in the workforce. Sign up for one of the regional events; next week there are events in Sonoma and Palo Alto with events all over the state during the months of March and April.
State Survey: The California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) in partnership with the California Community Colleges Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research (COE) is leading an effort to help education and workforce training providers create or improve programs to respond to California’s needs for a skilled cybersecurity workforce. Please join us in our effort to conduct a substantive cybersecurity labor market analysis for California by filling out the survey and passing it on.
For Your Farming Clients: Join California Farmlink for Growing Opportunity: Farm Finance Expo on March 28, 2018, 11:00am-5:00pm, in Sacramento. It’s one stop shopping for ag loans and financing resources. Meet Local Ag Lenders and Explore Financing Options. Learn How to Pitch a Farm Business for Financing. Manage Your Farm’s Finances (Instead of Your Finances Managing You).
Professional Conference (for you and your clients): The 8th annual La Cocina Conference will expand and force some intentional, exciting and considerate conversations around food as engines for economic development in our communities. On April 16-18, La Cocina invites chefs, placemakers, policy activists, writers, academics and consumers who believe that social justice must be a part of our dining culture to gather at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, San Francisco. Early bird tickets are available but there is a limited amount.
Moving Main Street Forward: AEO’s microbusiness and microfinance conference is a must-attend event for professionals providing capital, technical assistance and other forms of trusted guidance to Main Street and microbusiness owners. The agenda will be packed with inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking plenaries and compelling breakout sessions designed to engage attendees in bold and provocative conversations on using inclusion, innovation and investment to move Main Streets across the country forward. See you in Detroit, Michigan, April 30 to May 2, 2018. Check out the newly released agenda! Thanks to the generous support of Moving Main Street Forward sponsors, AEO has released a limited number of registrations for just $399! These will run out quickly, so don’t delay — claim your spot today! Also, CAMEO has a limited amount of scholarship available, contact Heidi Pickman for more information.
For Your Clients: Join Small Business California for their 2018 Education Day on May 22, 2018 in Sacramento. Small business owners from around the state will hear from leading experts on relevant issues such as: Workers Compensation, Medical Marijuana in the Workplace, State Contracting Opportunities, CalSavers Retirement Savings Program, PAGA Lawsuits, Universal Healthcare or Single Payer Plans, Employment Development Department, and more.
For Your Clients: California State Treasurer’s Office launched CBIG.ca.gov, the California Business Incentives Gateway that connects business owners and entrepreneurs to incentives to help them grow and create jobs.