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Take Action – Money for Micro! Happy Women’s History Month Vol 2!

  • Take Action – Money for Micro!
  • Happy Women’s History Month, Volume 2!
  • Join us for MicroLending Essentials on April 16-17, 2018 at the SBA offices in San Francisco. Sign up before March 23 to take advantage of the early bird rate of $350 for members; $550 for non-members. Prices go up by $100 on after that, so register now!
  • Save the date for our Annual Member meeting on June 5, 2018 in Sacramento!
  • Take this simple two-question survey on social media channels you use.
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a bunch of new reports to celebrate women’s business ownership!

Take Action – Money for Micro!

At the State Level

It’s time to support AB 2463, Small Business Assistance Act of 2018. The bill lays out a framework on how to leverage federal dollars for small business assistance and creates the “California Small Business Assistance Program.” We are working with Small Business California, Small Business Majority, and our colleagues at the state level to ensure that the final bill effectively and efficiently distributes the money to help the most California businesses. Please support the bill by sending a letter of support by April 6, 2018.

This should take no more of five minutes of your time. The goal is to generate over 100 letters of support, so feel free to send to your clients as well. The template has suggestions for language for both organizations and businesses.

At the Federal Level

Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Don Young (R-AK) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) are leading a congressional sign-on letter in the House to support Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriations. The letter calls on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee to provide at least $248 million for the CDFI Fund Programs, which is the same level provided in FY 2017–the most recent appropriations bill approved by Congress. The deadline for your Representatives to sign onto the letter is Thursday, March 15th. We ask that everyone please reach out to your members of Congress and ask them to sign the letter. Be sure to include examples of your work in their district and state to illustrate the importance of this funding to his/her constituents.

If your Representative agrees to sign onto the letter, please be sure to forward Ayrianne Parks a copy of the response.

Happy Women’s History Month, Volume 2!

Happy belated International Women’s Day and week two of Women’s History Month. There is more to celebrate! Like these stats:

  • More than 11 million women business owners now employ 9 million Americans, generating $1.7 trillion in yearly revenues.
  • Women are starting new businesses at five times the rate of men, increasing market share in every industry and in rural and urban areas alike.
  • If American women entrepreneurs were our own country, we would have the 10th largest GDP in the world-larger than Canada or Mexico, and even Russia.

Much of this was made possible because of The Women’s Business Ownership Act, H.R. 5050, which celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year. The Women’s Business Ownership Act included:

  • Erasing the need for a male relative or husband to co-sign a business loan,
  • Establishing the Women’s Business Center (WBC) program,
  • Creating the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), and
  • Requiring the Census Bureau to include women-owned c-corporation, which expanded research beyond the self-employed and into bigger women-owned businesses.

You can help preserve funding for WBCs, which is facing a $2 million proposed cut. It’s easy, just sign on to the AWBC letter which asks Congress to prioritize women business owners by strengthening and investing in the Women’s Business Center program (WBC). It takes less than 1 minute.

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 Report: NAWBO released a white paper – “Spotlight on H.R. 5050: The Bill that Changed Everything for Women Business Owners”. The paper reflects on the provisions that transformed the course for women business owners and highlights the current areas for improved policy and better women involvement.

New Report: The National Women’s Business Council has released a report – “Understanding the Landscape: Access to Capital for Women Entrepreneurs.” Join them for their second quarter public meeting in Fiscal Year 2018 on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, from 11:00am-12:30pm PT // 2:00pm-3:30pm ET.

New Report: Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, released a report titled: “Tackling the Gender Gap: What Women Entrepreneurs Need to Thrive.” This timely study draws on interviews with 14 female entrepreneurs, who detail the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, to highlight current initiatives and provide recommendations to eliminate the unique barriers confronting women-owned small businesses.

Professional Networking: Join the CDFI Women’s Network (CWN) on the CDFI Connect Community! Login and navigate to the all communities page, find the CDFI Women’s Network community and click the green join button in the upper right corner. For assistance, please email community@ofn.org. CWN is an independent, women-led, volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the advancement of women who work for CDFIs or for organizations that support the Community Development Finance industry.

Member in the News: Ann Sullivan, our woman in DC, writes about investing in women’s business ownership on the WIPP blog.

Member in the News: Joyce Klien of Aspen’s FIELD program has a blog post “Creating Effective Policies to Support Entrepreneurship.”

Future of Work MeetUps: California Forward is hosting a series of Future of Work Meetups to talk about how artificial intelligence, the rise of gig economy platforms, and a new wave of automation will further change the future of work and the skill sets required to thrive in the workforce. Sign up for one of the regional events; next week there are events in Sonoma and Palo Alto with events all over the state during the months of March and April.

Free Webinar: Credit Builders Alliance hosts “All About the SBA Microloan Program” on March 15, 2016 at 11:00am PT. The SBA Microloan Program provides direct loans and grants to eligible non-profit microlenders so that they may provide microloans and business based training and technical assistance to start-up, newly established and growing small businesses. Learn about the program – eligibility requirements, the steps for becoming an intermediary, and the benefits of participating. A brief overview of the Community Advantage Program will also be provided.

State Survey: The California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) in partnership with the California Community Colleges Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research (COE) is leading an effort to help education and workforce training providers create or improve programs to respond to California’s needs for a skilled cybersecurity workforce. Please join us in our effort to conduct a substantive cybersecurity labor market analysis for California by filling out the survey and passing it on.

For Your Farming Clients: Join California Farmlink for Growing Opportunity: Farm Finance Expo on March 28, 2018, 11:00am-5:00pm, in Sacramento. It’s one stop shopping for ag loans and financing resources. Meet Local Ag Lenders and Explore Financing Options. Learn How to Pitch a Farm Business for Financing. Manage Your Farm’s Finances (Instead of Your Finances Managing You).

Professional Conference (for you and your clients): The 8th annual La Cocina Conference will expand and force some intentional, exciting and considerate conversations around food as engines for economic development in our communities. On April 16-18, La Cocina invites chefs, placemakers, policy activists, writers, academics and consumers who believe that social justice must be a part of our dining culture to gather at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, San Francisco. Early bird tickets are available but there is a limited amount.

Moving Main Street Forward: AEO’s microbusiness and microfinance conference is a must-attend event for professionals providing capital, technical assistance and other forms of trusted guidance to Main Street and microbusiness owners. The agenda will be packed with inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking plenaries and compelling breakout sessions designed to engage attendees in bold and provocative conversations on using inclusion, innovation and investment to move Main Streets across the country forward. See you in Detroit, Michigan, April 30 to May 2, 2018. Check out the newly released agenda! Thanks to the generous support of Moving Main Street Forward sponsors, AEO has released a limited number of registrations for just $399! These will run out quickly, so don’t delay — claim your spot today! Also, CAMEO has a limited amount of scholarship available, contact Heidi Pickman for more information

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For Your Clients: Join Small Business California for their 2018 Education Day on May 22, 2018 in Sacramento. Small business owners from around the state will hear from leading experts on relevant issues such as: Workers Compensation, Medical Marijuana in the Workplace, State Contracting Opportunities, CalSavers Retirement Savings Program, PAGA Lawsuits, Universal Healthcare or Single Payer Plans, Employment Development Department, and more.

For Your Clients: California State Treasurer John Chiang officially rolled out CBIG.ca.gov, the California Business Incentives Gateway. The online gateway connects business owners and entrepreneurs to incentives to help them grow and create jobs. The CBIG site makes it easy for businesses expanding or locating in California to find and apply for incentives as part of a strategic business plan.

For Your Clients: The U.S. SBA announced the launch of the 2018 Emerging Leaders initiative for executives of small businesses poised for growth in emerging markets. Local area recruitment for the 2018 training cycle is currently ongoing at designated SBA District Offices. Classes are scheduled to begin this spring with specific dates differing by location. Interested small business owners can learn more regarding eligibility, how to apply, and class schedules at the SBA’s Emerging Leaders website. In California, classes will be held in Fresno, Glendale, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

New Report: The SBA issued “Financing Patterns and Credit Market Experiences: A Comparison by Race and Ethnicity for U.S. Employer Firms“. Hispanic and Black Americans are underrepresented in business ownership compared with their shares of the general population. Asians (73 percent) Hispanics (72 percent) and Blacks or African Americans (70 percent) rely on owner’s personal or family savings as a source of startup capital, while 65 percent of Whites relying on this source.