Save the Date: Microlending Summit is January 9, 2014 in San Francisco.
- Pre-Register: Food, Glorious Food Biz
- 2013 State Legislation
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight include FIELD’s ELM (squared) Fellowship to support the development of emerging leaders in the micro-business development field. The Requests for Application is available online. Applications are due November 15, 2013.
Pre-Register: Food, Glorious Food Biz
We’re excited for our 5th Annual Women’s Symposium and cooking up a great agenda which will be released in the next week or so.
For now, pre-register today for Food, Glorious Food Biz!
December 3, 2013 @ Los Angeles Federal Reserve
Tickets are $30, including lunch.
There’s no better place to grow food, explore food innovations or market food than in California, so it’s no wonder so many CAMEO members are serving clients who want to be in the food business, many of them women. That’s why this year’s Women Entrepreneurs Symposium focuses on the food industry: business opportunities, tools, financing and policy. Symposium attendees will:
- Engage in stimulating conversation on the relationship between Slow Money and Fast Food (or Fast Money and Slow Food).
- Test out easy-to-use new technology that helps business owners (from start-up to growth) manage their financials.
- Learn about business opportunities in health food and other cutting-edge food trends.
- And, of course, participate in the networking and fun of a CAMEO event!
Pre-register today for Food, Glorious Food Biz!
Invite your clients, bring your staff! Download a flyer to share!
2013 State Legislation
While national news took up all of the airspace, California’s legislative session was wrapping up. The following bills are of interest to micro-business, microlending and the business climate.
- AB 285 (Brown) would have require the California Workforce Investment Board to develop guidelines for local workforce investment boards to help them implement entrepreneurial and self-employment training programs. Vetoed by Governor Brown.
- SB 118 (Lieu) provides additional policy direction for the alignment of education and workforce investment systems, and highlights the importance of entrepreneurial programs. Signed by Governor Brown.
- SB 12 (Corbett) establishes the “Made in California” program that will allow California manufacturers to capitalize on the state’s global and national reputation and better market their products in an increasingly competitive economic environment. Signed by Governor Brown.
- AB 227 (Gatto) will allow small businesses 14 days to put up a missing Proposition 65 notice (for certain types of exposures) before they could be sued. This law revision should stop some of the worst examples of abusive Proposition 65 lawsuits. Signed by Governor Brown.
- AB 32 (Perez) expands the COIN program to increase investment in CDFI’s. Signed by Governor Brown.
You can read more details about these bills on our recent post “2013 State Small Business Legislation.”
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 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!
CAMEO in the News: Tomorrow is the 25th Anniversary of HR 5050, the Women’s Business Ownership Act. Before H.R. 5050 was signed, in some states a woman had to have a male relative co-sign a small business loan. The bill also established the Women’s Business Center program. What are you doing to celebrate?
CAMEO in the News: Claudia talks about CAMEO’s efforts to increase self employment and by providing capital, connection and coaching for the micro-business community on Small Business File.
Member Kudos: Congrats to Valley Small Business who received a $300,000 grant to fund their Technical Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC) that will provide business and credit assistance to small business owners in the Fresno and Central Valley region.
Take Action: AEO has launched a letter writing campaign “It’s Time to Get America Back to Work” that urges Congress for economic stability that micro-businesses (okay, all businesses) need to thrive. Take a couple of minutes and send a letter.
Free Webinar: BALLE hosts Launching Your 2013 Shift Your Shopping Campaign: Supporting Independent Businesses This Holiday Season on October 29, 2013 at 10:00am. Join over 150 business networks and 40,000 locally owned businesses for the third annual grassroots holiday Buy Local campaign, Shift Your Shopping, led by partners at the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA). This webinar covers everything you need to know about how to run a successful Shift Your Shopping campaign; from resources to success stories, templates to tips, learn about how SYS can help YOU highlight local innovation and promotes independent businesses in your community this holiday season. Learn more and register. Hint: register as general public and keep going through the registration process.
White House Small Business Call: Small Business Majority hosts a monthly discussion series with representatives from the White House on the most important policies impacting small businesses.
These free calls, taking place on the final Wednesdays of each month, will feature the White House’s Ari Matusiak, Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement. The next one is on October 30, 2013 at 11:00am PT. Register for the Chamber Chatter call.
For Your Clients: Mission Main Street Grants is a grant program by Chase to award twelve (12) small businesses with grants of $250,000. Application deadline is October 31, 2013.
Free Webinar: Our colleagues at CFED and others host “How the Federal Tax Code is Driving Inequity and What You Can Do About It” on November 7, 2013 at 11:00am PT. Find out why tax reform matters and what are the opportunities for change. This webinar is intended to prepare practitioners and advocates for critical windows of opportunity to engage in tax reform debates and advocate for policies that enable low- and moderate-income families to access a greater share of the benefits. Register and learn more.
For Your Clients: BBVA Compass launched its Great Ideas for Small Business contest on Facebook. The competition provides a platform for small business owners to showcase their inventiveness while earning a chance to win one of two $10,000 prizes to help fuel business expansion. To participate, qualifying small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses need to submit their ideas via a contest app located on the BBVA Compass Facebook page. Entry Deadline November 14, 2013.
Fellowship Opportunity: The ELM (squared) Fellowship – offered by FIELD in partnership with the Capital One Foundation – supports the development of emerging leaders in the microbusiness development field. FIELD announces that the Requests for Application for its second class of Fellows, is now available online. Applications are due November 15, 2013.
Fellowship Opportunity: The BALLE Fellowship is North America’s only fellowship dedicated solely to advancing the local economy movement, and where other programs focus on individual social entrepreneurs trying to scale single enterprises, we focus on local economy connectors – people who each represent, convene, and influence communities of hundreds of community entrepreneurs. Deadline is December 15, 2013.