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Prize Money and Awards!

In this week’s Must Know:

  • Prize Money and Awards for You and Your Clients
  • Micro Conference Time
  • The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is a survey on small business attitudes sponsored by Small Business California. Since 2004 this survey has been an important tool for educating elected officials and policy makers about the concerns and challenges faced by small business owners in California.

Prize Money and Awards

AEO wants to recognize and reward your entrepreneurs, and the organizations that serve them, with the first-annual Power of One Awards – celebrating micro-business excellence. The awards, supported by the Citi Foundation, celebrate the spirit of innovation, collaboration and imagination in business. This is serious money, my friends – $75,000 for MDO’s and up to $25,000 for entrepreneurs. The awards will be given out at the AEO national conference. The application deadline is Friday, March 30 at 5:00 p.m. EST, so fill it out today. We want a CAMEO member to win!!!

CAMEO offers your entrepreneurs another opportunity for recognition – the 2nd annual Faces of Entrepreneurship Awards. Awards will be presented on June 6, 2012 at a reception following CAMEO’s Annual Meeting in Sacramento. Legislators from the business owners’ districts will present awards. This is a great opportunity for your clients and will help CAMEO build strategic connections with several 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. Nominate your businesses by April 15, 2012.

Micro Conference Time

Several important industry conferences (as you can see from above) are happening in the coming months, so make those travel plans. In reverse chronological order:

First, mark your calendars for CAMEO’s Annual Meeting in Sacramento, June 6-7, 2012. Expect an ‘official’ invitation in a couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, you can book your hotel room at the discount rate until May 15, 2012.

The AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Register for the conference and book your plane flight and hotel early for the best prices. CAMEO members will receive a $75 discount off their registration. Also CAMEO offers some scholarships.

A whole bunch of CAMEO members in San Diego (ACCION San Diego, CDC Small Business Finance, Foundation for Women, International Rescue Committee) along with other partners will host the 2012 San Diego Microfinance Summit: Technology and Innovation on April 4, 2012 at the University of San Diego. Register and learn more.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. The Goodies were getting a little long, so I have posted a running tab of current Goodies is on the CAMEO website. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything!

For your clients: Have your clients fill out this survey on small business attitudes sponsored by Small Business California. Since 2004 this survey has been an important tool for educating elected officials and policy makers about the concerns and challenges faced by small business owners in California. Send the survey to your clients today!

Free Audio Conference: The Federal Reserve invites you to participate in Connecting Communities: Strategic Use of Data for Transforming Community Investment. This moderated audio conference will explore creative uses of data and technology to promote public and private investment in transitional communities, or those areas with significant, perhaps erstwhile, strengths and assets but also declining housing values and population. Learn more or register for the call on March 21, 2012 at 11:00 am – 12:15 pm PT //2:00 – 3:15 pm ET.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of $20.6 million in grant funding for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Adult Program. DOL expects to award 17 grants of approximately $1.2 million each for 27-months. Any non-profit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status may apply for these grants to provide pre-release and post-release services (including job training) to ex-offenders returning to high-poverty, high-crime communities. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is March 13, 2012. Note to CAMEO members: you may want to partner with other prison groups to go after the funding and provide self-employment training.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability
of approximately $75 million in YouthBuild grant funds to develop programs that will help out-of-school youth complete high school or General Educational Development programs, as well as learn critical occupational skills in construction, health care, information technology and other fields. I’m not sure if entrepreneurship training is one of those fields, but it should be! Check it out. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is May 8, 2012.

Small Business Loan Fund Conference: The NADO Research Foundation’s Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) will host a conference on April 24-26, 2012 in Burlington, VT. The event includes sessions that offer best practice examples from peers, plenaries that bring in top notch leaders in small business finance and technical assistance, a roundtable of federal agency program staff and many opportunities for attendees to share and exchange information, suggestions for problem solving, and a format for learning about new programs or solutions that can be replicated in your region. Register and learn more.

Grant Opportunity: In 2012 the California Consumer Protection Foundation will be accepting applications for approximately $1 million of grants under the Telecommunication Consumer Education Fund (TCEF). Successful TCEF projects will support the efforts of community-based organizations to ensure that Californians become more informed, savvy consumers of wireless telecom services. The next 2012 application deadline is May 1, 2012. Learn more.