Unmasking Economic Justice for a Small Business Recovery
Thanks to the approximately 100 people who attended last week’s Advocacy Day! The feedback we received from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, so thank you. Our new advocates found out that it wasn’t that scary.
We started the morning talking about the SSBCI program with Ron Kelly. The main difference from SSBCI 2.0 from version 1.0 is that the U.S. Treasury (UST) has made a commitment to equity with three efforts: inclusion of tribal governments a separate allocation for socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI), and funding for financial technical assistance. ICYMI, the guidance for the SSBCI TA grant is out. Register for Treasury’s webinar SSBCI Technical Assistance Guidance Overview on May 18, 2022 at 1:00pm PT // 4:00 pm ET.
We found out from Scott Wu that California submitted the 4th application and UST is going in order of application, so we should be hearing soon. California is poised to receive $1.1 billion, with a sizeable amount – $187 million – going to SEDI populations with the opportunity to draw down another $100 million. Scott also talked about the Ibank’s efforts around venture capital programs. Ibank will focus on three areas: inclusive fund managers, first time fund managers, and direct investment in companies whose mission and activities revolve around climate justice and equity both geographically and demographically. The ultimate goal is to develop long-term infrastructure that can serve the needs of our small businesses.
Other highlights of the day include:
- Learning about SBA’s Lender Match 2.0 and Community Advantage updates from Veronica Pugin.
- Inspiring works from Tara Lynn Gray, on plans to eliminate gaps in resources across the ecosystem and how equity has to be a pillar of everything we do and not an afterthought.
- Meetings with 12 legislative offices to promote our 2022 Advocacy Day Priorities.
- Chill time post-day to wrap up and decompress with our members!
Thank you to our amazing guest speakers. You can catch their presentations in our CAMEO Academy, under FREE CAMEO Courses — CAMEO’s Annual Advocacy Day.
- Ronald Kelly, Outreach Lead, State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) in the Department of the Treasury
- Scott Wu, Executive Director, California Infrastructure & Economic Development Bank (IBank)
- Veronica Pugin, Senior Advisor, Office of Access to Capital, SBA
- Tara Lynn Gray, Director, Office of the Small Business Advocate · California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)
