CAMEO’s Annual Meeting is in Sacramento, June 6-7, 2012. Book your hotel room at the discount rate until May 15, 2012.

In this week’s Must Know:

• The Power of One and the AEO Conference
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. A bunch of you are hiring!

The Power of One and the AEO Conference

Last week, the CAMEO staff attended the AEO conference along with a couple dozen members. We learned a lot, made an impact, made some new friends and of course had a great time (see photo left – Claudia and Steve Lafredo from Citi tear up the dance floor). You can read my notes from the Community Advantage session where a panel talked about how to make the program more effective. Download a great argument with good data on self-employment as a labor trend presented by Todd Greene of the Atlanta Fed. It’s great to have someone else joining the cause.

And then there was the Power of One Awards. Guess who won a $25,000 award to invest in the business? Bay Area Medical Center from San Francisco! Simonida Cvejic (see photo right with Julianna Malveaux, Connie Evans and Simonida’s staff) happened to receive our Faces of Entrepreneurship award last year (attend our annual meeting and this year’s awards.) Along with the awards, AEO launched the Power of One Alliance – join today and have your businesses join!

To close the conference, we headed to Capitol Hill to brief legislative staff on our policy priorities, which include several bills and our budget recommendations.

And yes, if you’re concerned about funding for micro, make your case to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (House FSGG). Sample letters and contact information are in a previous Must Know.

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 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!

Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. The Aspen Institute/FIELD, Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings. And I added CFED this week.

Free Webinars: The Irvine Micropreneur Program hosts a free webinar every Thursday from 12:00-1:00p.m. on business topics of interest to small business. Find out more!

For your clients: Both the state of California and the U.S. government have opened small business portals.

New Book: Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity explains how to put money into building local businesses and resilient regional economies—and profit in the process. The book delivers the most thorough overview available of local investment options, explains the obstacles, and profiles investors who have paved the way. The book also guides readers through the lucrative opportunities to invest locally in their homes, energy efficiency, and themselves.

New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy released a new research study,”Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital.” Using data from the 2007 U.S. Survey of Business Owners, the study aims to complete the picture on immigrant entrepreneurship by answering questions such as: What hurdles do immigrant entrepreneurs face addressing capital? How do they use capital?

Grant Opportunity: For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities. Applications for 2012 CED funding are due on June 5, 2012. Learn more and apply.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor announced the availability of approximately $12 million in grants through the Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program to provide job training and skills development services that will help approximately 6,000 veterans succeed in civilian careers. Applications are due before June 15, 2012.

Grant Opportunity: The Low Income Tax Clinic program awards matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to qualifying organizations to develop, expand, or maintain a low income taxpayer clinic. Applications are due June 15, 2012.

PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

California is home to the most innovative and competitive firms in the world, placing us consistently among the top ten economies. The vast majority of these businesses employ 500 or fewer workers.

Small businesses embody the entrepreneurial spirit that has driven the economy of our Golden State. Over half of our private-sector workforce is employed by small business.

This month, we reaffirm our commitment to helping California’s small businesses thrive and prosper. The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, along with key agencies of state government, works to facilitate economic growth through collaboration with small businesses. Supporting small-scale private-sector job creators is among our most promising strategies to enhance California’s human capital, expand job opportunities and increase our competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim May 2012, as “Small Business Month.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 1st day of May 2012.

The Entrepreneurial Training Improvement Act was written by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA23) to direct the U.S. Department of Labor to develop performance measures for self-employment in order to increase entrepreneurial training activities at the local level.

The Entrepreneur Startup Growth Act , or H.R. 3571, was introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA32) in December of 2011. The bill would provide free schedule C tax advice and help low-income business owners file taxes. CAMEO is quite pleased as the bill would institutionalize our successful CA-Self Employment Tax Initiative project.

The Microenterprise and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Act of 2011 was introduced by Representative Cedric Richmond (D-LA) in October 2011 with several California co-sponsors:

• Rep. Karen Bass [D-CA33] (joined Oct 24, 2011)
• Rep. Laura Richardson [D-CA37] (joined Oct 24, 2011)
• Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA9] (joined Dec 08, 2011)
• Rep. Janice Hahn [D-CA36] (joined Apr 19, 2012)

The bill, H.R. 2809, would restore and enhance the SBA’s PRIME Programs and give Micro a seat at the table. AEO worked hard to make this bill a reality.

CAMEO’s FY2013 Budget Recommendations
• $8 million – SBA PRIME
• $25 million – SBA Microloan–Lending
• $22 million – SBA Microloan –Technical Assistance
• $14 million – SBA Women’s Business Centers
• $108 million – SBA Small Business Development Centers
• $22.5 million – USDA RMAP
• $32 million – USDA RBEG
• $221 million – CDFI Fund
• $769 million – DOL WIA – Adult Employment. And Training Funds
• $125 million – DOL Workforce Innovation Fund

In 2011, the SBA unveiled Community Advantage, a pilot loan program that provides mission-oriented non-profit financial intermediaries with 7(a) loan guaranties for loans of $250,000 or less. It’s a potential game changer, but the roll out is slower than expected. Notes from the session follow:

The SBA Community Advantage program fills an important gap for lending in the $50,000-$500,000 range. The program opens up CDFI’s to CRA money and secondary market capital.

Bank of America has a just in time, only borrow when you need it product for Community Advantage lenders (sounds like a line of credit).

The Community Advantage program is a pilot program and the participants want it to be made permanent.

Referral programs need to improve
7(a) guarantee won’t solve all problems, as many clients don’t fit.
It’s only a guarantee, the lender still needs to find capital and create a strong balance sheet. CARS is one tool to measure that.

Organizations have a capacity issue. They need to know how to

• pre-qualify loans,
• underwrite loans,
• settle the loans the way the SBA wants, and
• collect on loans.

The SBA is working on a training, potentially on June 30, 2012.

Obstacles/growing pains include

• efficiency in the internal process
• other loan products don’t require as much documentation
• labor intensive
• SBA process is lengthy – takes 3 weeks, and
• SBA compliance has a steep learning curve.

The Community Advantage capital is not as financially attractive as the micro loan program (the capital is better.)

The program has been made easier over time, but if you can’t sell it on the secondary market, it’s not worth it. You have to put up a lot of reserves to access the program.

You need to do a lot of community advantage loans to make sense.

Michael provides research to Greater Portland Inc.’s Economic Gardening Program which has served 50 second-stage companies in the Portland-Vancouver metro. In addition, Michael provides research to Grow Oregon, the state-funded market research program for Oregon’s growth-oriented manufacturers.

His background is in Competitive Intelligence, with experience in the software, pharmaceutical/medical device and technology sectors. While not researching, Michael likes to run, keep bees and play with his 18 month old son.

In this week’s Must Know:

• PRIME FY2012 Update
• Engage with CAMEO
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. A bunch of you are hiring!

PRIME FY2012 Update (and budget action)

Some of you have asked about the release of FY2012 PRIME funds, so we asked. Disclaimer: nothing is guaranteed.

The SBA will analyze the 2nd quarter reports, which are due at the end of this month. Based on performance, they’ll figure out how many option year grants they will fund and determine if there is money available for new grantees (not likely). They hope to have the letters out by the end of June so that budgets can be completed and the grants can get out.

If you’re concerned about the PRIME program and/or any of the funding for micro, make your case to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (House FSGG), the committee that decides on funding for the SBA and CDFI’s. Sample letters and contact information are in last week’s Must Know.

CAMEO will make the case to the California delegation while we’re back at the AEO conference next week. And since we’re gone, the Must Know will take a week’s vacation.

Engage with CAMEO

As the hub of micro in California, CAMEO serves as a way for us all to network. And in today’s parlance, that means online. We are beefing up our presence.

A couple of weeks ago I started a LinkedIn group only for CAMEO members: This group is open only to CAMEO members as a place to have a discussion about best practices, solutions to problems, pros and cons of different software, sharing research, programmatic questions, etc. Any staff member from any member organization will be able to join. Please join and post a discussion topic or participate in someone else’s (like my recent one about cashmobs for National Small Business Week.)

One of CAMEO’s activities is to raise public awareness about the Micro sector. But we can’t do it without your help. We need you to follow our tweets – @HeidiMicro and like us on Facebook and THEN ask your friends to do the same. People who are passionate about what they do can engage others. And stay tuned for our Causes.com campaign – it’s a great tool for engagement.

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 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!

Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. The Aspen Institute/FIELD, Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings.

Archived Webinar: CAMEO and Aspen recently co-hosted a webinar on the benefits of MicroTracker. We’re happy to make it available. MicroTracker is a great tool to measure impacts for your organization and the field.

Archived Webinar: Last week AEO hosted “Community Reinvestment Act: What’s in it for you?” If you were unable to attend you can see the presentation and/or listen to a recording of the session.

Free Webinars: The Irvine Micropreneur Program hosts a free webinar every Thursday from 12:00-1:00p.m. on business topics of interest to small business. Find out more!

For Your Clients (in SoCal – LA, Orange, Ventura and Riverside Counties): Count Me In (a Friend of CAMEO) hosts Urban Rebound Los Angeles Conference and Competition on May 10 and 11, 2012 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. You can register (only $49) for the conference and/or send to your clients – it’s a great opportunity. Find out about the pre-conference pitch parties so your clients can practice pitching their business (say that five times fast.)

Grant Opportunity: For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities.Applications for 2012 CED funding are due on June 5, 2012. Learn more and apply.

New Tools and Systems for Performance Evaluation & Impact Reporting: Why? Which? How?
Tuesday, May 1, 10:15-11:45am

Moderator: Rohan Mathew, Executive Director & CEO, Intersect Fund

• Elaine Edgcomb, Director, FIELD Program, Aspen Institute
• Paige Chapel, President & CEO, CARS
• Nancy Kopf, Senior Manager, Success Measures Evaluation Services
• Laura Sparks, Director of Development Finance Initiatives, Citi Community Development
• **Marian Doub, Associate, Friedman Associates/ Outcomes in Action Consulting

Impact & Culture: Organizing to Tell the Story of Your Organization
Tuesday, May 1, 10:15-11:45am

Moderator: Angie Moncada, Vice President Communications, Citi Community Development

• Wendy Baumann, President & CVO, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation
• **Gwyneth Galbraith, Major Gifts Director, Opportunity Fund

As resources from all sources become increasingly scarce and competition for attention increases, the need to make a compelling and fact-based case about the importance of your organization and its impact is more critical than ever. Organizations that effectively tell their stories and demonstrate their impact reap benefits in many ways including attracting and retaining talented staff; securing funding and investments; and securing partnership opportunities. In this session you will hear from experts in marketing and PR about what it takes to tell a strong story and you will hear from practitioners about the steps they have taken to build the capacity to do this well.

Helping Underserved Entrepreneurs Create Jobs: Lessons from High Performers
Tuesday, May 1, 2:15-3:45pm

Persistent unemployment coupled with structural changes in the economy create an imperative for job creation through business ownership. In this session, you will hear from experts and experienced practitioners with an impressive track record of job creation through business ownership. They will share insights from their experience on what it takes to systematically generate successful outcomes.

Moderator: John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO, Small Business Majority

• **Julie Abrams, CEO, Women’s Initiative
• Elizabeth Isele, Co-Founder, Senior Entrepreneurship Works
• Erik R. Pages, President, EntreWorks
• Michael Simmons, Co-Founder, Extreme Entrepreneurship
• Nell Merlino, Founder, President & CEO, Count Me In (Invited)

Outsourcing Lending Operations: How New Business Models Can Improve Portfolio Management and Sustainability
Tuesday May 1, 4:15-5:30pm

Moderator: **Claudia Viek, CEO, CAMEO

• Joshua D. Miller, Underwriting Services Manager, ACCION Texas
• Leslie Hoffman, Vice President Lending & Client Service, ACCION New Mexico-Arizona-Colorado

Technology creates opportunities to standardize the loan approval process in order to reduce underwriting costs and improve risk management. At the same time, specialization permits some organizations the opportunity to create economies of scale or scope. In this session, you will hear from practitioners about the opportunities, tradeoffs and requirements associated with the decision to outsource all or part of your lending operations.

What is the Cost of “Free”?: Expanding Capacity Using Volunteers
Tuesday, May 1, 4:15-5:30pm

Moderator: Vanessa Carter, Executive Director, Campus MicroFinance Alliance

• Shannon Maynard, Director, Bankers without Borders
• Sabrina Quaraishi, Client Relations Manager, Bankers without Borders
• **Sharon Miller, CEO, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center

Volunteering is a long-standing American tradition. Yet the face of volunteers has changed significantly over the last decade. Students, experienced professionals, and mid-to-late career-changing professionals and retirees are seeking to find ways to use their skills and interests on behalf of underserved entrepreneurs. This enormous talent pool represents a massive opportunity to improve capacity among non-profit microbusiness lenders and service organizations. In this session, you will gain a deeper perspective about what your organization can accomplish by harnessing the enthusiasm, talent, and skill of volunteers and what it takes to manage “free.”

Making Self -Employment a Workforce Imperative
Tuesday, May 1, TBD

Moderator: Patricia Harris, CEO, The Edge Connection (Georgia)

• Lynne Cutler, Executive Director, WORC (Pennsylvania)
• **Shufina English, Director of Member Programs, CAMEO (California)
• Lisa Smith, Executive Director, Enterprise for Equity (Washington)

Self-employment is a labor market trend: out of the 27 million firms in the US, 21 million are non-employer firms and 3.7 million are micro businesses with less than 5 employees. The Dept. of Labor has recognized this trend and encouraged state and local Workforce agencies to support entrepreneurship training with policies and funding, e.g. the Workforce Innovation Funds and the new Self Employment Assistance option for those eligible for unemployment benefits. Yet only a few states have responded to this opportunity. This session will showcase examples of Workforce/Micro Enterprise Development partnerships and show you how to advocate for recognition and support. The lack of performance measures for self- employment is a primary obstacle to local Workforce systems adoption. The Workshop participants will show how to address this key issue.

Plenary Session: High Impact Investing in Women- Job Creation Potential of Women Owned Micro-business
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Opening Keynote: Lisa Hall, President & CEO, Calvert Foundation

• **Julie Castro Abrams, President, Women’s Initiative
• Beth Harrison, Walmart Foundation (Invited)
• Tina Tchen, Assistant to the President & Chief of Staff to the First Lady and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls (Invited)

Services include; stewardship and resource management, marketing and development, effective meeting facilitation, management training, communications and strategic media relations.

Known for her large-scale, community-inspired facilitation and training projects, Diane has assisted hundreds of rural businesses, organizations, and government agencies to create and reach their goals. One project relative to CAMEO was the Stewardship Tourism Project of Far Northern California that she worked on with JEDI. In 1998 the organization for which she was the founding executive director, won the award. Governor’s Award for Environmental and Economic Leadership in the area of Innovation for the State of California. Projects include: The San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors and CBID Stewardship Tourism & Business Improvement District Project; The Kern River Valley Rural Cities & Businesses Community Inspired Marketing Plan; California Department of Fish and Game’s Marine Region’s Collaborative Research Project; and UC Santa Cruz Environmental Colleges Strategic Planning.

In this week’s Must Know:

• The Appropriations Long Haul
• Member Kudos
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is the AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!

The Appropriations Long Haul

We are in for a long appropriations season. The word from DC is that we will be operating on a continuing resolution until after the elections. (No surprise.) That doesn’t mean we rest. It means we have more time to impress our case upon the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (House FSGG), the committee that decides on funding for the SBA and CDFI’s.

Here’s what we want you to do – write letters to the Subcommittee Chair Jo Ann Emerson and Ranking Member José Serrano to request their support for these programs, including PRIME, Microloan Program, WBCs, SBDCs, and the CDFI Fund.

We know that Rep. Serrano is listening because he came down hard on the SBA Director for cutting PRIME and TA funding. Remember last year we were able to save PRIME from extinction. Your letters do make a difference!

We’ve made it as easy as possible for you with AEO-provided sample letters and five little steps.

1. Download the sample letters.
2. Put on your letterhead.
3. Personalize them with your organization’s impact.
4. Fax them to Chair Emerson and Ranking Member Serrano.
5. CC (can be by email): your representative, Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein, Martin Feeney and me.

• Sample letter to Chair Jo Ann Emerson
  For Chair Jo Ann Emerson, fax your letter to (202) 226-6692 and send a copy of your letter to Ariana Sarar.
• Sample letter to Ranking Member Jose’ Serrano
  For Ranking Member é Serrano, fax your letter to (202) 225-6001 and send a copy of your letter to Laura Hogshead.

This persistence is what gives the Micro sector power and credibility. And a big thanks to the few of you who let me know you sent your letters. If you have sent your letters, but haven’t let me know, please do.

Member Kudos

Marsha Bailey, Women’s Economic Ventures Founder and CEO was selected as one of the Top 50 Women in Business by the Pacific Coast Business Times for the third year in a row. Yay!

Read about ACCION San Diego‘s new opportunity with the New York Stock Exchange.

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 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!

Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. The Aspen Institute/FIELD, Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings.

Webinar: The Stanford Social Innovation Review hosts The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector on April 25, 2012, 11:00 a.m. -12:00 noon PDT // 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT. Harvard University’s Christopher Stone and Nathalie Kylander will discuss the changing role of brand in the nonprofit sector, and describe a new conceptual framework they have created – Nonprofit Brand IDEA – in which “IDEA” stands for brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics, and brand affinity. The webinar is based on their article “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector. The fee is $49 and you need to pre-register.

Micro National Conference: The AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!

For Your Clients (in SoCal – LA, Orange, Ventura and Riverside Counties): Count Me In (a Friend of CAMEO) hosts Urban Rebound Los Angeles Conference and Competition on May 10 and 11, 2012 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. You can register (only $49) for the conference and/or send to your clients – it’s a great opportunity. Find out about the pre-conference pitch parties so your clients can practice pitching their business (say that five times fast.)

Grant Opportunity: For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities.Applications for 2012 CED funding are due on June 5, 2012. Learn more and apply.

Resources for Women: The Department of Labor and Small Business Administration recently held a “Women Small Business Owners” conference call.