Newsflash: Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown proclaimed that May is small business month.
CAMEO’s Annual Meeting is in Sacramento, June 6-7, 2012. Book your hotel room at the discount rate until May 15, 2012.
In this week’s Must Know:
- The Power of One and the AEO Conference
- The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. A bunch of you are hiring!
The Power of One and the AEO Conference
Last week, the CAMEO staff attended the AEO conference along with a couple dozen members. We learned a lot, made an impact, made some new friends and of course had a great time (see photo left – Claudia and Steve Lafredo from Citi tear up the dance floor). You can read my notes from the Community Advantage session where a panel talked about how to make the program more effective. Download a great argument with good data on self-employment as a labor trend presented by Todd Greene of the Atlanta Fed. It’s great to have someone else joining the cause.
And then there was the Power of One Awards. Guess who won a $25,000 award to invest in the business? Bay Area Medical Center from San Francisco! Simonida Cvejic (see photo right with Julianna Malveaux, Connie Evans and Simonida’s staff) happened to receive our Faces of Entrepreneurship award last year (attend our annual meeting and this year’s awards.) Along with the awards, AEO launched the Power of One Alliance – join today and have your businesses join!
To close the conference, we headed to Capitol Hill to brief legislative staff on our policy priorities, which include several bills and our budget recommendations.
And yes, if you’re concerned about funding for micro, make your case to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (House FSGG). Sample letters and contact information are in a previous Must Know.
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!
Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. The Aspen Institute/FIELD, Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings. And I added CFED this week.
Free Webinars: The Irvine Micropreneur Program hosts a free webinar every Thursday from 12:00-1:00p.m. on business topics of interest to small business. Find out more!
For your clients: Both the state of California and the U.S. government have opened small business portals.
New Book: Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity explains how to put money into building local businesses and resilient regional economies—and profit in the process. The book delivers the most thorough overview available of local investment options, explains the obstacles, and profiles investors who have paved the way. The book also guides readers through the lucrative opportunities to invest locally in their homes, energy efficiency, and themselves.
New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy released a new research study,”Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital.” Using data from the 2007 U.S. Survey of Business Owners, the study aims to complete the picture on immigrant entrepreneurship by answering questions such as: What hurdles do immigrant entrepreneurs face addressing capital? How do they use capital?
Grant Opportunity: For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities. Applications for 2012 CED funding are due on June 5, 2012. Learn more and apply.
Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor announced the availability of approximately $12 million in grants through the Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program to provide job training and skills development services that will help approximately 6,000 veterans succeed in civilian careers. Applications are due before June 15, 2012.
Grant Opportunity: The Low Income Tax Clinic program awards matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to qualifying organizations to develop, expand, or maintain a low income taxpayer clinic. Applications are due June 15, 2012.