Small Biz Provisions in State Budget | New WE CAN Initiative

In this Must Know…

We enthusiastically support Governor Newsom’s revised budget for FY 2020-21, which clearly recognizes the importance of small businesses to the California economy. Smallest businesses are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to the economy. Almost three-quarters (73%) of small businesses have experiences a severe-to-moderate negative impact by the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s according to a survey by Small Business Majority. They also found that a third of businesses have closed. The trends in California are no different.

The governor drew the same conclusion that we have: the best way to get California’s economy back on its feet is for small businesses to bring their employees back to work, create more jobs, and bring resiliency to our communities. If the state and country are going to weather this crisis, that means investing in small businesses so they can pull us through. 

We wrote a summary of small business-related provisions in the budget’s May Revision for our MicroBiz Blog. It also includes our letters of support that you can download and use as a template.

California has 1.5 million women business owners, the most in the nation, and key to our state’s economic vitality. Women’s Business Centers are critically important to ensuring their success.

CAMEO is working with Union Bank on their WE CAN (Women’s Entrepreneurship Capacity building, Advocacy support, Nurturing growth) Initiative to provide training and mentoring to six WBCs in California to effectively serve and support women-owned businesses.

A new report by Prosperity Now, The Cascading Impact of COVID-19 on Microbusinesses, explores the reasons why businesses owned by people of color, women, and immigrants have been especially affected by the pandemic.

These communities are historically the most vulnerable to financial shocks and are most represented in the sectors that saw a virtual stoppage in economic activity. The report highlights how and why these vulnerable businesses have trouble accessing financing and how this has been exacerbated by the pandemic.