In this week’s Must Know
- Happy New Year – CAMEO’s 2013 Calendar Calendar for Supporting the Micro Sector
- The Goodies: This week’s highlight includes grant opportunities from the CDFI Fund (scroll down).
- Member Kudos: MEDA awarded $30 million Promise Neighborhoods grant/li>
Happy New Year – CAMEO’s 2013 Calendar
Happy New Year! We are excited for 2013 and have a lot planned.
January 30: Microlending Forum at the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. The Forum is designed to promote best practices, create collaborations between member lenders and strengthen relationships with our bank partners who invest in microlending. The Forum is by invitation only.
February: Self-Employment Assistance bill – we will need your help garnering support from your assembly members and state senators to integrate self-employment into the Unemployment Insurance program.
February 1: CAMEO 2013 Membership Drive ends. If you haven’t already, renew your membership! Membership entitles you and your staff to scholarships to events and professional development, as well as targeted organizational assistance.
February 5: CAMEO-Kiva Collaboration is launched. Loans from Fresno CDFI, PACE and Working Solutions will be up on the kiva.org website for all to invest and we will have a media launch. Join the CAMEO Kiva Investment club to support these borrowers in California!
March 1: Collect your impact data for the annual survey. We will be partnering with microTracker once again and they are scheduled to launch in the early days of March.
May 5-8: Join CAMEO at the AEO conference in St. Louis.
We have two major events that we are planning, but haven’t nailed down the venue (although we’re cooking up some great content) so the exact dates aren’t final, so pencil these dates in on your calendar.
- June 4-5 or 5-6 – the Annual Member Meeting in Sacramento
- November 5 or 6 – Women’s Symposium in Los Angeles
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!
Community Capital Webinar:: BALLE hosts Entrepreneur Showcases: Pitching Business Plans to Drive Local Investment with Slow Money Northern California. If you haven’t heard of an Entrepreneur Showcase, you’re not alone. But you are missing out on a great tactic for engagement and fundraising. Also called an “pitchfest,” these showcases are a new way of driving local investment and business support. Register for the webinar on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 : 10:00am PT. Cost is $25.
Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released Notices of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the fiscal year (FY) 2013 funding rounds of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program). The CDFI Fund expects to provide up to $165 million in Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards for FY 2013 (funding is subject to Congressional appropriations). Learn more and apply (search for CDFI) by February 28, 2013.
AEO Conference: AEO’s national conference, Tilt Forward, will be May 5-8, 2013 in St. Louis, Missouri. If you’re not an AEO member, CAMEO members receive a $75 discount with the code SMA2013. If you’re an AEO member, registration fees are 50% of the full conference price – another reason to join.
AEO and FIELD Membership Discount: You save $100 on AEO membership and $100 on a one-year MicroTracker Premium Plan subscription – that’s a total value of $500 for only $300! Learn more about the AEO/FIELD Membership Bundle. This is a must-buy, if you are not already an AEO member!
Must Read: Sunday’s (Dec 2) front page story in The New York Times, “As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price,” vindicates our position that cities should invest in locally owned businesses. CAMEO will be using the evidence in this piece to promote micro as a local economic development tool that works, and at a fraction of the cost.
Member Kudos: Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) will receive a five-year, up to $30 million Promise Neighborhoods implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Promise Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which supports innovative and inclusive strategies that bring public and private partners together to help break the cycle of inter-generational poverty.
Member Kudos: VEDC partnered with the Nevada Microenterprise Initiative (NMI) to maintain micro lending and SBA Women’s Business Services and expand VEDC’s nationally recognized small business lending program into Nevada.
Non-profit Know How: Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio offers “Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%.” If you don’t have the budget to hire experts, you can listen to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. Trusted experts and leading thinkers join Tony each week to tackle the tough issues such as board relations, fundraising, volunteer management, prospect research, legal compliance, accounting, finance, investments, donor relations, public relations, marketing, technology, social media. Listen and subscribe to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio on iTunes or check out the show on Facebook.
Pro Bono Consulting: Three Micro Enterprise organizations can receive pro bono consulting services to help build program and organizational capacity. Feel free to contact Jason if you are interested at 319-341-4556 or jasonj@friedmanassociates.net.