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Claudia Honored By SBA, Annual Meeting Recap

  • Congrats to Claudia, Champion for Women-Owned Businesses
  • Annual Meeting
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a grant opportunity. The application deadlines for Rural Business Opportunity Grants are June 30 for partnership funds and June 28 for all other requests.
  • Watch our video CAMEO Connects to illustrate the power of locally-grown small-businesses.

Congrats to Claudia

Big congrats to Claudia. Claudia won the Women in Business Champion of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Small Business Administration and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for National Small Business Week (June 17-21). Many thanks to Ron Fong from the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program for the nomination! Claudia was honored at a luncheon on Tuesday in Los Angeles for her work serving and advocating for women entrepreneurs.

Says Claudia: One of my main goals is to challenge longtime policies that have worked against women’s progress to achieve self-sufficiency and wealth creation through self-employment. Women are starting businesses at a rate three times faster than men, so it’s crucial that they have a strong advocate who is rooting for their success.

Read the full press release: CAMEO CEO, Claudia Viek, Awarded Women in Business Champion of the Year.

Annual Meeting Recap

Our annual meeting in Sacramento was a great success and source of inspiration. From the stimulating discussion of our Rural Summit to the Legislative Advocacy Day, there was never a dull moment. About 65 people participated throughout the event. Thanks to the CAMEO members, award winners, friends and legislators who gathered to support micro-business in California. (Pictured right: Stacey Sanchez, the CAMEO board president and Shufina English, CAMEO’s Program Director.)

I’ve posted a full recap of the 2013 Annual Member Meeting that includes presentations, handouts and talking points. And check our our photos on Facebook MicroBizCA, feel free to like us and tag yourself in the photos.

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!

National Small Business Week: Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. The SBA has a great line-up of online events that we can participate in from California during the week of June 17.

Small Business Week Teleconference: CAMEO is co-sponsoring a teleconference with Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Small Business Majority on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 12:30 pm PT // 3:30 pm ET to celebrate the 50th annual National Small Business Week (click the link to register)!

Free Webinar: Friedman Associates hosts What Does it Take to Build Sustainable Micro-Businesses? on June 26th 11:00 am PT // 2:00 pm ET. Most practitioners agree it is the services offered after entrepreneurial training or a microloan that make the difference between success and failure. However, In designing advanced business services, we are are challenged to balance cost-effectiveness with measurable client outcomes. CAMEO member Marsha Baily of WEV is one of the presenters. Reserve your Webinar seat.

Grant Opportunity: The USDA is seeking applications from qualified organizations to provide technical assistance to rural businesses to help them expand and create jobs. The application deadlines for Rural Business Opportunity Grants are June 30, 2013 for partnership funds and June 28, 2013 for all other requests.