Fresno Goes to Market
And…Action! (new recurring section)
The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a CalNonprofit webinar for “What to Know Before You Raise the Dough: Essential Fundraising Rules and Regulations” on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 11:00am – 12:30pm.
Fresno Goes to Market
On Monday, Shufina and I went to Reedley, a small charming town about 25 miles south of Fresno for a site visit for our third Go To Market.
Go To Market – Fresno will take place on April 22nd at Reedley High School. (Photo: Shufina English, CAMEO’s program director, and Eduardo Gonzalez of the Fresno State University SBDC in front of the school.)
CAMEO, along with Fresno SBDC, have teamed up with the National Specialty Foods Association, with support from a grant from Fresno CDFI through USDA Rural Development. We will offer up a full day of learning about the specialty food industry: business and marketing opportunities, how to stay viable and competitive, and how to access appropriate financing. We are excited to bring this top-notch training to Fresno County. Through this training, we and our members aim to reach home-based cottage kitchens, stimulating new jobs through specialty food entrepreneurship.
Register or spread the word with your colleagues and clients in the Central Valley about
Go To Market Fresno!
And…Action!
We are starting a new section of the
Must Know — And…Action! — because the current political reality demands that we participate more fully in the budget and legislative process – both at the state and the federal levels. We will describe actions you can take to ensure the survival and success of the micro sector. We urge you to assign a specific staff person to be responsible for taking action.
April Break for Congress = District Visits
Congress is on spring break starting on
April 7 and going through April 24. This is a great time to
meet with your federal legislators to talk about the the need to adequately fund the programs that support our sector. As we mentioned last week, the President has put in a supplement budget request for FY 2017 (which we are in and under a Continuing Resolution) that asks for $30 billion for defense and homeland security while devastating many of our programs. As we also mentioned before, Congress is in charged of appropriations.
For the past few years, we’ve had some respite and haven’t had to make a real hard advocacy push for the programs that we love and our communities need. (And when I say ‘we’, I mean the sector.) This year, it’s different. We’re in for a long slog and need to maintain a steady drum beat of advocating for all of our programs – CDFI’s, SBA, Rural Development, EDA, and CDBG. This April is the first step.
We will be providing talking points soon, but what we want you to do this week (right now, if possible) is the following:
Find your representative by typing your zip code in the box in the top right-hand corner.- Go to your representative’s website and request a meeting during the April recess.
- Request a district meeting with Senators Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris.
- Call the district office and follow up next week.
- Email me your success stories about your program. Include what program, your grant information, what you did, what the outcomes were, and how it has impacted your community. Congress wants data!
CalNonprofits has a quick
survey on how the Trump administration is affecting the work you do as nonprofits — whether positively or negatively.
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!
Member Kudos: Congrats to RISE Financial Pathways who released their first app,
Micro Business Monday tips. It’s available FREE on the Amazon Alexa and Amazon Echo platform. Micro Business Monday offers insights for emerging micro and small businesses looking to grow, sustain, and strengthen their brand.
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.
Professional Development Opportunity: BALLE has opened the application process for their 2018
BALLE Local Economy Fellowship program. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (so apply early!) from February 2017 until the cohort is filled. Applicants can expect to be notified of their first round status (finalist, declined, or still under review) within 4-6 weeks of receipt of your application.
Workforce and Micro: The California Workforce Association and California Workforce Development Board have joined forces with the California Community Colleges to facilitate a series of 17 conversations called –
Partnerships that Unlock Social Mobility. The remaining ones are in April in Redding (3rd), Eureka (4th), Napa (10th) and Santa Clara (14th). We urge you to attend and make the voice of entrepreneurship heard. Our goal is for local WIBs to partner with CAMEO members to provide training. Please
let us know if you are able to make it and what you’ve learned.
For Your Clients: Small Business Majority is hosting free a webinar –
Access to Capital 101: Funding Options to Start and Grow Your Business on April 5, 2017, April 19, 2017, and 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.
Webinar: Join CalNonprofits for “What to Know Before You Raise the Dough:
Essential Fundraising Rules and Regulations” on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 11:00am – 12:30pm. It’s free for members and $40 for not-yet-members. The process of raising money through special events, online fundraising, mail solicitation, and other methods is subject to city, state, and federal oversight. Find out how to follow the rules and protect your nonprofit’s tax exemption and your donors’ ability to get the benefit of a tax deduction.
New Report: OFN released “
Expanding Employer-Based Small Dollar Loan Programs and the CDFI Industry: Learnings from the Knowledge Network.” A
webinar discussing the report is on
April 11, 2017 at 11:00am-12:30pm PDT.
For Your Clients: The U.S. SBA announced the launch of the
2017 Emerging Leaders Initiative, a seven-month executive-level training series targeting small businesses with high-growth potential in under-served cities across the nation. Participating cities in California are Bakersfield, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. If you have clients that have annual revenues of at least $400,000, have been in business for at least 3 years, and have at least one employee, other than self, check out the program.
Advocacy Day: This year, OFN’s Advocacy Day will take place on
May 16–17, 2017. During Advocacy Day, your voice is needed to make the case to members of Congress and Administration officials about the
importance of funding for the CDFI Fund, the industry, and our communities.
Professional Conference: Save the Date for OFN’s 2017 Small Business Finance Forum, June 15 and 16 at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park.
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: The National Women’s Business Council released
Social Entrepreneurship Amongst Women and Men in the United States.
New Report: Our colleagues at WIPP have outlined an Economic Blueprint – a comprehensive set of public policy expectations on behalf of women business owners.]]>
