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Support AB152, Help Unemployed Start A Biz

In this week’s Must Know

  • Support Self-Employment for the Unemployed
  • The Goodies: This week’s highlight is the Small Business Survey by Small Business California. This survey takes ‘the pulse’ of our small businesses. These vital results are shared with policy makers and elected officials from Sacramento to Washington DC. Please distribute this to your network of small business owners.

Support Self-Employment for the Unemployed, AB152

Claudia and I had a great day in Sacramento yesterday. We are working hard to make sure that legislators and our friends know the benefits of AB 152, Self-Employment Assistance Program, introduced by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada and sponsored by CAMEO.

As you might have gathered from phone calls and emails, we need your help to pass the bill. We estimate it will create 5,000 businesses and 12,500 jobs and generate at least $400 million in economic activity.

Claudia and I also enjoyed seeing many members who were in Sacramento for the SBDC legislative day. Thanks to all of those members who told us that they have sent in letters. If you have sent letters, please email me an electronic copy or at the very least shoot me an email saying that you sent your letters. We need to keep a list of organizations who support it.

We’ve made it easy for you to write letters to your assembly members.

If your assembly member is on the Insurance Committee, then it is crucial that you contact them. In fact if anyone has a close relationship with any of the following members, we need to know.

  • Assemblymember Henry T. Perea, Chair (D-Fresno)
  • Assemblymember Curt Hagman, Vice Chair (R-Chino Hills)
  • Assemblymember Susan A. Bonilla (D-Martinez)
  • Assemblymember Steven Bradford (D-LA)
  • Assemblymember Ian C. Calderon (D-San Gabriel Valley)
  • Assemblymember Ken Cooley (D-Rosemont)
  • Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Fairfield)
  • Assemblymember Beth Gaines (R-Roseville)
  • Assemblymember Holly J. Mitchell (D-LA)
  • Assemblymember Brian Nestande (R-Palm Springs)
  • Assemblymember Kristin Olsen (R-Stockton)
  • Assemblymember Norma J. Torres (D-Pomona)
  • Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont)

You can find the Insurance Committee contact information here. If there is a staff member listed on the spreadsheet, please make sure to email that person as well.

We thank you in advance for your help!

Also, Claudia writes about self-employment as a job creation strategy in The Huffington Post.

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!

Small Business Survey!: Small Business California is conducting its annual survey of all California small businesses. This survey is vital to take “THE PULSE” of small businesses in the State. The results are shared with policy makers and elected officials from Sacramento to Washington DC. Please distribute this to your network of small business owners. It will only take five minutes to complete. Survey closes at the end of February.

SBA Training Opportunity: Attention LA and Fresno members, the U.S. Small Business Administration launched its 2013 Emerging Leaders executive-level training initiative, formerly known as e200, in 27 cities and communities across the country. The seven-month executive leader curriculum includes approximately 100 hours of classroom time per participant and provides the opportunity for small business owners to work with experienced mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections with their peers, city leaders, and financial communities. Local recruitment for the 2013 training cycle started February 1 through SBA district offices, and classes are scheduled to begin in April.

Archived Webinar: If you missed this week’s microTracker webinar with Jefferson Economic Development Institute (JEDI), it’s you’re lucky week. JEDI shared how it used microTracker to guide its strategic planning, advocacy and fundraising, and in marketing to prospective clients about their likely outcomes. You can also download the slides of the JEDI-microtracker webinar.

New Report: Our friends at Emergent Research sent us this “FOOD TRUCKS MOTOR INTO THE MAINSTREAM“. Food trucks are expected to be a $2.7 billion industry! It’s a quick easy read on the state of the food truck industry, a must read for all of you with food truck clients.

Healthcare Info: Thanks to Small Business Majority for healthcare resources. Small business owners and the self-employed need to know how the Affordable Care Act will bring down costs, create a greater choice of insurance options, and the opportunities it offers to expand coverage.

For Your Clients: Fishbowl and Intuit present the $35,000 Innovative Product Challenge. If your client has an innovative product, this contest is for them. It’s a vote now, vote often type of contest, so pass on the information now. The deadline is February 26, 2013.

Grant opportunity: The Union Bank Foundation announced two special funding initiatives for nonprofit providers of small business technical assistance and homeownership counseling. Requests for proposals on these initiatives with details on the application process can be found on the Union Bank website. The final deadline is February 28th.

Renaissance Online Business Prep Class: Attention service-starved areas, the webinar-based classes are scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. PST one evening a week for 12 consecutive weeks, with two optional 30-minute individual telephone consultations. Clients are expected to participate in every webinar and complete about 3 hours of homework weekly. The next one starts on March 13, 2013. Learn more and register for the Renaissance Online Business Prep Class.

Industry Conference: AEO’s national conference, Tilt Forward, will be May 5-8, 2013 in St. Louis, Missouri. If you’re not an AEO member, CAMEO members receive a $75 discount with the code SMA2013. If you’re an AEO member, registration fees are 50% of the full conference price – another reason to join the national network. Your organization can win a $75,000 grant from AEO and Citi and your clients can receive up to $25,000 (Last year a CAMEO member client won!) Find out more and apply for the 2013 Citi MicroEntrepreneurship Awards.