So much going on … enjoy!
- Help for Gig Workers, a Webinar
- CAMEO’s Annual Meeting – Schedule Meetings with Legislators
- AEO Recap, DC Briefing
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes two funding opportunities from the USDA: Rural Business Development Grants (RBDG), formerly known as RBEG and RBOG, and Value Added Producer Grants (VAPG).
Help for Gig Workers, a Webinar
RSVP for the CEDAH, the Uber for Jobs – Another Tool for the DIY Economy webinar on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 11:00am – 12:00noon.
The number of Californians working part-time when they would like to be full-time is 1.2 million. Governments spend billions to create jobs and make their jobs market more efficient. But markets for irregular work remain lopsided to the benefit of the employer, time consuming to use, uncertain and devoid of data. Find out how California’s cities and counties can harness technology to help the labor market become more efficient for workers and employers.
Join CAMEO and Wingham Rowan, Director of Beyond Jobs, to learn about a new labor market platform that make hour-by-hour working more accessible, configurable, and rewarding for workers, as well as compliant with state regulations.
RSVP for the CEDAH, the Uber for Jobs webinar.
CAMEO’s Annual Meeting
Join us at our Annual Member Meeting in Sacramento to learn about business pollinators!
June 9, 2015
8:30 am – 6:00 pm
Sterling Hotel
1300 H Street, Sacramento
In the morning, after a short member meeting, we will give you tips, training and talking points for our key advocacy issues this year. Then, you will be off to visit your legislators between 10:45 and 12:15. Please make your own appointments; here’s how:
- Find contact information for your assembly member(s) and your senator.
- Send a written request to the scheduler as well as call the office.
- If the legislator is not available, ask for a meeting with the chief of staff.
If you are from an area that only has one representative in each house, coordinate with other CAMEO members who may be attending. If you are from a large area that has many representatives, we will divide and conquer. Contact Andrew, who will help coordinate with other members who will be going.
The topics of your legislative visits include the importance of the microbusiness sector to local economies and three crucial issues – depending with whom you meet:
- SB 197 (Block), co-sponsored by CAMEO and Opportunity Fund, will help small businesses be more aware of capital resources offered by mission-driven microlenders. This bill has passed through Senate appropriations and is likely to pass the Senate floor, which means the Assembly is the next stop. It will be crucial to educate your assembly members on the merits of this bill. You will thank your Senators for their support.
- AB 184 (Garcia) will codify business technical assistance (SBDCs, WBC, SCORE, VBOC and PTAC) and allow state agencies to directly contract with them and fund them. Right now it is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
- We are looking for a champion for the importance of women’s business ownership in closing the wealth gap.
For more information and a full agenda for the day, visit the annual meeting page on our website.
AEO Recap, DC Briefing
Wow! For those of us who went to the AEO Leadership Summit last week, it was a mind-expanding experience. We heard from a futurist on the trends that are affecting our industry and learned how to imagine the future in four different scenarios (growth, collapse, constraint, and transformation). We were challenged to conduct experiments with testable hypotheses in lieu of developing ‘good ideas’. We Re-imagined TA aka Business Assistance Services. We discussed how best to communicate the social impact of our work.
One of the last speakers was Julie Hanna, investor and founder of Kiva (click for talk), who believes in technology as an equalizer.
I envision a world where the opposite of poverty is not wealth but justice, and justice in the form of fair access. Talent is universal but opportunity is not. Even though small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy that lifeblood is being starved.
She was announced as one of the new Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) on Monday (May 11). We look forward to having her as a champion for the micro cause that will nourish our sector.
Saving the best for last… Before the conference started, CAMEO held our annual legislative briefing (see photo) with a focus this year on California’s Women-Owned Businesses: Closing the Wealth Gap. It was the most well-attended briefing we’ve had with about a dozen legislative offices present and engaged. Claudia talked about the self-employment trends and ability of entrepreneurship to propel women-owned businesses to financial security and success. Thanks to Amanda Brown, Executive Director, National Women’s Business Council who presented the national perspective and Marsha Bailey, CEO of WEV and Chair of Association of Women’s Business Centers, who explained the role of California’s 12 WBCs that work to create sustainable microbusinesses and jobs. Raising the awareness of California’s legislators has helped to save funding and sometimes increase support for our sector within the climate of sequestration and slashing social programs.
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!
CAMEO in the News: Claudia Weighs in on Net Neutrality in Huffington Post (please share).
New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy issued a new issue brief, Profile of Veteran Business Owners: 2013, which examines the demographics of veteran business owners.
Free Webinar: The Federal Reserve has a great train-the-trainer webinar for those of you who serve retail businesses. Curious to learn about how consumers use mobile phones for banking, make payments for goods and services, shop, and make other financial decisions? Join them to discuss findings from their recently issued report, Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2015. Register for this session on Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 12:00 noon PT // 3:00 pm ET.
Free Webinars: California’s GO-Biz Office of Small Business Advocate (OSBA) is celebrating Small Business Month with a series of free webinars to educate small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs on important requirements and available resources. Space is limited and registration is required.
Free Webinar: Register for 2015 Nonprofit Benchmark Study with M+R Strategic Services s on Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 11:00am PDT/ 2:00pm EDT. M+R has done the research, crunched the numbers, and analyzed the data from 84 different organizations, which means more data, greater insight, and more takeaways about better ways to run your organization and create greater impact.
Support a CAMEO Member: CNBC’s reality show, The Profit, which offers struggling small businesses around the United States capital and expertise, has selected Accion to be the beneficiary of their very first #ShareTheProfit campaign. This means that every time anyone shares content (
or 
), from the campaign, CNBC will donate $1 to Accion’s work in the United States, up to $100,000.
Industry Conference: The 13th annual BALLE Conference is shaping up to be one of the most exciting and inspiring yet. The leading lights of the local economy movement will gather June 10-12, 2015 in Phoenix to inspire, learn, and connect around What’s Working — tangible solutions that are paving the path to real prosperity for all people. CAMEO followers will receive 10% off current price when they use the discount code BETTERTOGETHER when registering for the BALLE Conference.
Funding Opportunity: The USDA has opened two funding opportunities: Rural Business Development Grants (RBDG), formerly known as RBEG and RBOG, and Value Added Producer Grants (VAPG). RBDG is a competitive grant designed to support targeted technical assistance, training and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas that have fewer than 50 employees and less than $1 million in gross revenues. VAPG program helps agricultural producers enter into value-added activities related to the processing and/or marketing of bio-based, value-added products. Deadlines are June 19, 2015.
Conference Scholarship: Credit Builders Alliance hosts the 2015 CBA Credit Building Symposium on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 – Thursday, July 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. They have 10 scholarships ($250 per organization) for interested groups on a first-come, first-served basis to help defray some of the costs related to the registration fee, travel, and lodging. Email them ASAP if you are interested in the scholarship.