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Ranking CA Microbiz Policy

  • How California Fares in Microbusiness Policy
  • Renew or Join CAMEO
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes a bunch of new posts on CAMEO’s blog – scroll down to see what we have about the underground economy, the DIY economy and CRA efforts.

How California Fares in Microbusiness Policy


Today CFED released their the 2015 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard through a webinar. (Click on link to listen if you missed it.) This year’s Scorecard brings together 135 policy and outcome measures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help make the case for asset-based policy reform that expands economic opportunity for all Americans.

Excluded from the Financial Mainstream is their report that explains how the economic recovery is bypassing millions of American households. The report includes sections on financial assets and income, housing, homeownership, healthcare, education, jobs and businesses. CFED found that microbusiness ownership is a way to decrease income inequality – something that we’ve been saying for a while and something California could use (see graph). The report says:

“During the recession, we saw a small uptick in rates of business ownership – somewhat unsurprising given the lack of jobs. In this year’s Scorecard, 16.6% of the labor force owned a microenterprise (defined as businesses with fewer than five employees), which matches the highest rate during the recession. This trend suggests that workers excluded from the financial mainstream continue to use microenterprise ownership to patch together enough income to make their budgets work. Recognizing that small business development is another way for unemployed workers to get back into the economy (sic).”

California ranked 20th overall for the business and jobs category and 10th in microbusiness ownership. If we were performing as well as the best performing state (Florida) , then there would be 683,938 more workers owning microbusinesses! One of those policies is to leverage TANF and WIA funds for microbusiness support – something CAMEO has been working on for about five years. The data is super-rich and I encourage you to explore. Download a complete California profile with a focus on microbusiness.

Renew or Join CAMEO

Give your organization everything CAMEO has to offer. Your membership dues easily pay for themselves with high quality programs, free trainings, individual training opportunities, discounts on professional communications tools, member meetings and the priceless intangible benefits of collaboration and support.

Renew your membership or join our dynamic network of organizations and individuals by February 5, 2015. Together, we build businesses that create local jobs and grow California’s economy. In 2015, we will bring you more exciting programs and resources – including an expanded advocacy effort in Sacramento to bolster women’s entrepreneurship and increase microlending.

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!

New On CAMEO’s Blog:

Funding Opportunity: The Walmart Foundation’s 2015 State Giving cycle is now open. The Foundation is also offering a webinar, Anatomy of a Grant, on February 3, 2015 from 1:00-2:00pm PT // 3:00-4:00pm CST to get deeper insight into the grant-making process.

Healthcare Webinars: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are helping businesses navigate health care through the webinar series What the Healthcare Law Means For Your California Small Business . It’s every two weeks in English and monthly in Spanish. The next ones are on February 5, 2015 at 11:00am and February 10, 2015 at 1:00pm respectively. Note the Small Business Health Option Program’s online enrollment function is on hold and will be back online in the fall. Businesses can still purchase insurance through the traditional paper process, working with your Certified agent or the SHOP Service Center. Also Small Business California helped create a new Spanish-language website to help Latino business owners and employees learn how to comply with the health care law.

For Your Clients: The U.S. Small Business Administration Los Angeles District Office has launched the registration for its 2015 Emerging Leaders executive-level training series for Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Nationally, the Emerging Leaders Program has trained more than 2,400 promising small business owners in underserved communities, and its impact continues to expand in helping small businesses to grow and create jobs. Participant recruitment begins in February through SBA’s local district offices and classes typically begin in April. Learn more.

For Your Clients: Now through February 6, 2015, businesses can enter the American Small Business Championship by sharing your story. Two small businesses per state will win training from SCORE, a $1,000 Sam’s Club Gift Card, publicity and more. Learn more about the American Small Business Championship.

For Your Clients: Our colleagues at ASBC invite you/your clients to attend Venture Summit West, the premier venture gathering in Silicon Valley. Come meet, interact and network with more than 500 VCs, Corporate VCs, angel investors, investment bankers and CEOs of early stage and emerging growth companies on February 10-11, 2015 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

2015 CDFI Coalition Institute: Registration is open for the Institute on February 24-25th in Washington, DC. The tentative agenda includes a discussion of the likely approaches of the new Congress to housing and community economic development programs, including tax expenditure programs like the LIHTC and NMTC. Early bird registration ends January 24, 2015.

Funding Opportunity: The CDFI Fund is providing an additional 45-day application submission window for any eligible organization that did not submit a SECA application by the original application deadline of November 24, 2014. Any new SECA applicant can also submit a HFFI application by following the instructions in the application guidance materials, which can be found on the CDFI Program pages of the CDFI Fund’s website and through Grants.gov. New SECA applicants must submit their applications through Grants.gov by 11:59 PM EST on March 5, 2015.

Funding Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) today announced the next funding round for CED and CED-HFFI grants. These are extremely competitive grants that supports social enterprises that create jobs for low-income individuals and require a considerable amount of pre-planning. Friedman Associates will partner with a limited number of CDCs and CDFIs to write successful proposals. The grant deadlines are April 24, 2015.

New Essay: Joyce Klein of Aspen Institute’s FIELD program writes how impact investments can be used to scale microlending. The essay appears in a larger publication – Bottom Line – that addresses how impact investment can improve economic mobility in the U.S.

New Data Source: The Federal Reserve has put together some nifty data for the following counties: Alameda, Humboldt, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Francisco, and Tulare for their Vantage Point Community Indicators Project. Info includes demographic, educational, financial stability, employment, and housing measures for a sample of cities, towns, and/or zip codes in the county, with comparative measures included for the US, your state, and your county. The reports include presentation-ready graphs that you are welcome to use in your own work and share with your community.