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October Is All About Women and Those That Love Them

October is…

  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • National Women’s Small Business Month
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is an interview with Women Impacting Public Policy’s new President, Jane Campbell.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What does it have to do with microbusiness?

Everything to Melanie Rae, owner of The Guided Business Plan™ and breast cancer survivor. She writes:

Sometimes determination to succeed takes a toll on the body. After spending a lot of time on the road in 2015 to expand usage of the GUIDED Business Plan™ books across the country, the physical stress and hundreds of sugary café drinks caught up with me.


On November 15, 2015 I felt a Tootsie roll size lump….


Even though this was an incredibly expensive and soul-testing process, it was not as stressful as building a business alone. For this journey I had a plan and a team.

Read Melanie’s full story in the inspiring post on the similarities between the difficult process of overcoming cancer and starting a business.

National Women’s Small Business Month

To celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month (#NWSBM), the National Women’s Business Council, the U.S. SBA’s Office of Advocacy and Walker’s Legacy released Black Women Entrepreneurs: Past and Present Conditions of Black Women’s Business Ownership. The report explores the challenges and opportunities for Black women business owners and offers a roadmap of solutions to help the next generation of black women entrepreneurs.

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: Our colleagues at Women Impacting Public Policy have a new President, Jane Campbell. We look forward to working with her!

Member in the News: Pacific Community Ventures and their new microloan program were profiled in Next City.

For Your Clients: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently launched a resource center for small business owners. The site contains information on owners’ responsibilities under federal employment discrimination laws and responses to frequently asked questions. It also provides information on hiring decisions, training, and other workplace issues.

New Policy Paper: Etsy released a new policy paper – “Economic Security for the Gig Economy: A Social Safety Net that Works for Everyone Who Works“. The paper outlines four federal policy proposals that Etsy believes would would bolster economic security for the 21st century workforce.

OFN Conference: Registration is now open for Opportunity Finance Network’s annual conference – Rethink. It takes place October 24-27, 2016 in Atlanta, GA.

Professional Development: CALED is partnering with the California Academy for Economic Development, Fresno State, and the University Business Center, to bring you the Introduction to Economic Development Certificate Program. Register for this certificate program that is designed as an introductory course for people who are generally interested in knowing more about how local economic development works, as well as for those people whose responsibilities include economic development assignments. The course runs from October 24-27, 2016 at Fresno State, Craig School of Business. Fees: $700 CALED Member Rate (you must be the listed CALED member) or $800 Non-Member Rate (includes a one-year membership in CALED).

For Your Clients: Small Business Majority hosts Access to Capital 101: Funding Options to Start and Grow Your Business every other Wednesday, the next ones are November 2 and 16. They present an overview of alternative lending options including community development financial institutions, SBA’s loan guarantee program and reputable online options, key questions to consider when seeking funding, the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights and helpful tools and resources.

Conference: Save the Date for the 6th Annual Asset Building SymposiumFostering Economic Equity in a Changing Bay Area on November 3, 2016.

For Your Clients: AEO is partnering with the Federal Reserve System to survey existing and pre-start stage small business owners/managers. This survey is designed to better understand the credit landscape for small business and the experience of small business owners. As in prior years, the Federal Reserve System will release a national report of the survey findings. This year, they will also share custom data reports. They are seeking your help in distributing an important national survey of small business credit to your applicants and clients. The survey will be open now through November 23.

Programming Resource: Resources are now online for the webinar Prison to Proprietor: Entrepreneurship as a Re-entry Strategy presented by Asset Funders Network.