CAMEO is excited to announce we received the Rebuilding Better grant from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to do policy work around racial justice. CAMEO was one of 21 organizations that was selected to support activities that engage entrepreneurs in advocacy. Congrats to our other colleagues that include AEO, RCAC, Common Future, and Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon and more!.
This project would focus on educating California’s policy makers about the challenge of incorporating racial equity into policy for an equitable recovery. We have heard from our 300 members who represent Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American business owners about the needs of their clients that would decrease inequities. Examples include:
- develop community-based solutions and trust;
- increases in community-based lending as entrepreneurs of color are less likely to have formal relationships with traditional large banks;
- ensure online small business financing is transparent as Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs are twice as likely to be affected by “potentially higher-cost and less-transparent credit products”; https://www.fedsmallbusiness.org/medialibrary/fedsmallbusiness/files/2019/20191211-ced-minority-owned-firms-report.pdf;
- support for important needs of entrepreneurs of color that include language appropriate resources, legal assistance, and legacy building models; and
- promote local home ownership, disincentivize corporate landlords, and prevent foreclosures as home mortgages/ownership are the basis for many entrepreneurs of color to start their own businesses.
What other needs are you seeing with your clients? Email Heidi Pickman.
The goal of this project will be to build these needs (some short-term, some long-term) into the lexicon of California’s policy makers so they become true champions of a thriving racially-diverse business environment that mirrors California’s citizenry. Our outcomes will be introducing policy and making a change that will further racial equity and inclusion.
Kauffman Foundation believes entrepreneurs are underrepresented in policy debates. Without information about entrepreneurship and new ideas for helping entrepreneurs, policymakers will continue to lack an important perspective. The Rebuilding Better RFP supports activities that engage entrepreneurs in advocacy and educate policymakers of the challenges entrepreneurs face in America, thereby contributing to more supportive environments for entrepreneurs at the local, state, and national levels.
About the Kauffman FoundationThe Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Kansas City, Mo., that seeks to build inclusive prosperity through a prepared workforce and entrepreneur-focused economic development. The Foundation uses its $3 billion in assets to change conditions, address root causes, and breakdown systemic barriers so that all people–regardless of race, gender, or geography–have the opportunity to achieve economic stability, mobility, and prosperity. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect with us at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn.