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Celebrate 20 Years of CAMEO on June 17

  • CAMEO Turns 20
  • Organizational Technical Assistance
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlights include CFED’s webinar release of the 2014 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard at 9:00am PT // noon EST on Thursday, January 30. Spoiler Alert: California is not a leader in this area.

CAMEO Turns 20

Just over 20 years ago CAMEO was conceived around a kitchen table by four women leaders who were determined to create and enrich business development programs serving low-income women entrepreneurs. They quickly realized that key to their goal was a unified voice to advocate for public support. The organization became ‘official’ in 1994.

Please save June 17, 2014 for our 20th anniversary celebration during our annual meeting. There will be some great speakers, and we’re switching up the format a little, taking a break from hard core advocacy and inviting your legislators to lunch. More details will be forthcoming, but for now, mark your calendars.

We celebrate 20 years of serving you – through our advocacy for the micro sector and best practices training. Join or renew your membership to our dynamic network of organizations and individuals. Together, we build businesses that create local jobs and grow California’s economy through Micro-business development. If you are not the head of your organization, make sure you pass on this message so that you and your organization don’t lose out on any of the member benefits CAMEO offers. Our membership drive closes on February 1, 2014.

Organizational Technical Assistance

One of CAMEO’s best membership benefits is free organizational technical assistance and training services to qualifying organizations. CAMEO can work with members on a short-term basis to address a specific issue or help launch a larger effort. Some of the projects that we can help you with include:

  • Plan or facilitate a board/staff retreat
  • Design a strategic plan
  • Assess your organization
  • Assess needs and identify resources for leadership training
  • Review or evolve your program design
  • Find ideas for new services
  • Upgrade your financial management skills
  • Plan for collaborations with other organizations and agencies
  • Train your staff on best practices for training, customer retention, credit analysis, communications
  • Review your website
  • Plan a press conference or implement other media strategies

CAMEO’s team has spent numerous hours to help us implement new technology, which has helped me expand my loan program. Working Solutions increased our number of loans by 56% and the dollar volume by 60% in 2013 over 2012.
— Emily Gasner, Executive Director, Working Solutions

We also offer individuals help with professional development. Yep, your membership more than pays for itself.

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 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!

AEO Conference: Registration is open for AEO’s Big Easy Takeover! Connect with hundreds of industry professionals who are committed to giving Main Street microbusinesses the resources they need! Help America’s 25.5 million microbusinesses unleash their power. The conference is May 5-7, 2014. An additional enticement is the New Orleans Jazz Fest happening right before the conference. The hotel will extend the discounted room rate if you come early…let’s show AEO that CAMEO members know how to party! CAMEO members are eligible for a $50 discount off the AEO nonmember rate and can access it by entering the code SMA2014 at registration.

2014 MicroLenders Forum Recap: Read a full recap and find links to reports, resources and the powerpoints on our blogpost: 2014 MicroLenders Forum Recap.

SBA Head Nominee: President Obama nominated Maria Contreras-Sweet, the founder and board chairman of ProAmerica Bank in Los Angeles, to head the SBA. CAMEO is excited for her appointment as Mrs. Contreras-Sweet spoke at our Viva! event in 2009 and is a founding board member of the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce (formerly Latino Business Chamber of Greater LA), a CAMEO member.

Healthcare Webinars: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are committed to helping businesses navigate the changes and opportunities in health care through the Affordable Care Act 101 webinar series. They take place every Thursday at 11:00 AM PT // 2:00 PM ET. The next one is January 30, 2014.

Free Webinar: Join CFED at 9:00am PT // noon EST on Thursday, January 30 for the webinar release of the 2014 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard – the leading source of state-level data on financial security and policy solutions. During this webinar, CFED experts will discuss data on asset poverty and measures of household financial security, as well as trends on state policies that help families achieve security. Register for the 2014 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard webinar.

Free Webinar: CBA hosts Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative and How You Can Access Funding, an educational webinar to introduce you to the 2010 law that allocated $1.5 billion to strengthen lending to small businesses that might not be getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. The program allows states to build on successful models for state small business programs, including collateral support programs, Capital Access Programs (CAPs) and loan guarantee programs. The webinar is on Thursday, January 30,2014 11:00am Pacific // 2:00 pm Eastern.

Free Webinars: Opportunity Finance Network and the CDFI Fund host Strengthening Small and Emerging CDFIs. The program will provide training and technical assistance, including one-on-one assistance and mentored cohorts, for small and emerging CDFIs enabling them to increase their impact and improve their sustainability. Click on the link above to register or learn more about this webinar series on February 5, 2014.

For Your Clients: Apply for the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest, and explain what separates their business from the rest. After entries are accepted, businesses can share your unique story and profile with their Facebook friends and Twitter followers to encourage them to vote. Your clients can win up to $25,000. The deadline to register is February 9, 2014.

2014 CDFI Coalition Institute: The CDFI Coalition Institute also turns 20 this year. Attend this conference on March 5-6, 2014 at the Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC. Register asap to take advantage of the limited room block at the Hotel Monaco for a cost of $339 (2 nights, March 4th and 5th). The deadline for reserving a room in the block is February 4, 2014. Click on the link above for more information about registration and booking a hotel.

Industry Conference: What do you get when you mix 500 savvy social enterprisers, 3.5 days of top notch programming, the building momentum of a national movement, and the nation’s “it” city? Find out at Social Enterprise Alliance’s Summit 14 in Nashville on April 13-16, 2014. Build the social enterprise field, connect and strengthen skills. CAMEO’s network receives a 33% off discount with discount code CAMEO33. For more information click on the link above.

For Your Clients: The Sabor Latino Food Show is being held at the Pasadena Convention Center on May 13 and 14, 2014. It is “EL SHOW QUE VALE LA PENA!”. This is where business in the Latin Food community is conducted. They showcase products from all over the world and invite buyers from all over California.