Faces of Entrepreneurship Award Nominations End Soon
Six business days left to nominate your successful clients for the Seventh Annual CAMEO Faces of Entrepreneurship Award. Last year’s winners were:
- Vicente Quintana, El Nopalito Produce (nominated by El Pajaro),
- Bethany Smith, B Team Solutions (nominated by Coachella WBC), and
- Rebecca Weston, Sacred Mountain Spa (nominated by JEDI).
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 organization and 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. CAMEO covers travel costs to Sacramento.
Nominate your businesses by April 28, 2017 – that’s next Friday.
Early Bird Registration for CAMEO’s Annual Member Meeting on June 7, 2017 in Sacramento
Register for our Annual Member Meeting and Advocacy Day in Sacramento and take advantage of the early bird price of $125 until May 15.
To celebrate National Financial Capability Month, we’re excited to announce the topic of our annual meeting – The Changing Face of Financial Education.
June 7, 2017
8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Sheraton Grand Sacramento
1230 J Street, Sacramento
We’ve heard over and over again that one of the biggest needs of your clients is a lack of understanding of their businesses’ financials. And like everything else, financial education is changing because of technology, but also because of attitudes. Our sector needs to roll with the times and change the way we think and talk about financial education. In our morning session, members who are addressing financial education in innovative ways will explain their solutions. We’ll look at their evolution over time, the outcomes of their program, how they use technology, and how they are leveraging platforms to help their clients. Business assistance providers will learn new methods of teaching and lenders will learn some new strategies to ensure their clients are successful borrowers.
After our morning session, we will celebrate our Faces of Entrepreneurship Award winners (nominate your successful clients for the award by April 28, 2017). Then we will brief you on pending bills important to our sector and send you off to your legislators to educate them on why the state should do more to support small and microbusinesses. Please make your own appointments for 2:15-4:00pm. Find contact information for your assembly member(s) and your senator. If you need help, contact Andrew Cole.
Rural members- plan to attend our annual Rural Dinner the night before, starting at 6:00pm (location tbd). Enjoy our special time to connect and enjoy great food and drink.
Register for our Annual Member Meeting and Advocacy Day in Sacramento today!
And…Action!
The new section of the Must Know — And…Action! — is in response to the current political reality that demands that we participate more fully in the state and the federal legislative processes. We urge you to assign a staff person to be responsible for taking action.
We hope you’re well on your way to visiting with your federal representatives while they are on recess this week and next. If you met with them let me know how it went.
State Efforts: AB 1230
As you know, CAMEO has worked to secure state funds for entrepreneurship activities for many years. This year, Assemblymember Burke has authored AB 1230 that would provide the California SBDCs $2 million in state funding. Rest assured that CAMEO will continue to work on securing state funds for all of our programs. For now, please join us in supporting this bill. If successful, we will have proved that a strong, vocal constituency for small business assistance exists. This is especially important now that so many federal programs that support our work are on the chopping block. Download the sample support letter for AB 1230 (Burke) and fax to 916-319-2162 and 916-319-2190. No cover sheet is necessary.
California SBDCs released a report of their impacts by district.
Please see this Must Know for letters of support templates for state actions on AB 75 (counting 1099 income eligible for EITC), SB 551 (changes to CalCAP), and AB 778 (COIN).
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!
CAMEO Success Story: Read our profile of Joze Lopez of Stardust Events and a MEDA client.
Newsy Tidbit: GO-Biz Approves $91.4 million in tax credits for 114 companies that are adding over 8,233 jobs in California (and yes some are very small businesses.)
Professional Development Opportunity: ASBC is offering a three-part series of training webinars to help you meet with your representatives and speak to the media successfully. Join ASBC’s experts and equip yourself with an arsenal of tools to build relationships with the elected officials and the media and make your business voice heard on the issues and policies that matter! Remaining webinars include:
- April 26, 10:00am-11:00pm // 1:00-2:00pm ET: Effective Advocating & Lobbying Your Elected Officials.
- May 3, 10:00am-11:00pm // 1:00-2:00pm ET: Hone Your Message and Work with the Media to Get It Out.
Join ASBC’s experts and equip yourself with an arsenal of tools to build relationships with the elected officials and the media and make your business voice heard on the issues and policies that matter!
Free Webinar: After the first 101 days of the Trump presidency, what do we see in the future for immigration, health care, and tax reform? Join CalNonprofits for a webinar on May 1, 2017 at 12:00noon to find out.
For Your Clients: Small Business Majority is hosting free a webinar – Access to Capital 101: Funding Options to Start and Grow Your Business on May 3, 2017 at 11:00am PDT // 2:00pm EDT. These free national webinars will help businesses navigate the funding landscape and connect with resources to help obtain the capital needed to start and grow your client’s business.
Professional Development: Nominations for the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits) Board of Directors are officially open for the 2017 election. As part of CalNonprofits’ commitment to democracy in our society and in our membership, two thirds of board members are elected by members. Nominations will be accepted through May 15, 2017.
Professional Conference: Registration is now open for OFN’s 2017 Small Business Finance Forum, June 15 and 16 at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park.
Professional Conference: Register for Credit Builders Alliance’s 2017 Credit Building Symposium, June 26-27 in Washington, DC.
Funding Opportunity: OFN announced their NEXT Fund for Innovation, a pilot that will provide flexible capital in amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to CDFIs with innovative ideas. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis now through June 30, 2017. The fund is open to all qualifying CDFIs, including non-OFN Members and past NEXT Awards recipients.
New Report: AEO recently released “The Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America: Untapped Opportunities for Success.” The report assesses the economic strength and potential of Black-owned businesses, identifies myths, challenges and opportunities across a mosaic of segments, and suggests a plan for how investors and policymakers can increase the effectiveness of programs designed to support Black entrepreneurship.
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