• Unlucky Number 13 as in President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget
• Writing Tips Webinar
• 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 on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Register for the conference and book your plane flight and hotel early for the best prices. CAMEO members will receive a discount off their registration.

President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget

As Claudia extolled the virtues of our collective work and emphasized the importance of business technical assistance to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors (see pic left), I was reading the President’s recommended budget for FY 2013. You can read the SBA budget starting on page 191. It’s not good. PRIME is eliminated. Please don’t shoot the messenger. Martin Feeney, our guy in DC, put together this budget chart.

CAMEO issued a press statement* on Tuesday about our disappointment over the SBA budget.

President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget will not help nine-tenths of small businesses. The Budget contains support for small business in name only. The recommended cuts to programs will hurt the majority of small businesses.

On Tuesday Claudia met with several members of the appropriations committee who helped save PRIME for FY2012 including staffers for Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Representative Jose’ Serrano (D-NY), respectively the Chair and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, i.e. the main appropriations people for the SBA budget. Claudia thanked them for their support for FY2012 and expressed our desired for their continued support. We intend to pull off another herculean effort.

In the meanwhile, if you are a PRIME recipient, let us know how this is going to affect you and how you might diversify your funding stream. If you aren’t a PRIME recipient, send suggestions and collaboration ideas for your colleagues.

*FYI: as part of our communications effort this year, we are issuing weekly statements on the days news – feel free to mine them for talking points, quotes from Claudia, statistics. I’m particularly excited about a side by side look at Venture Capital and MDO impacts.

Writing Tips Webinar

Learn how to write those love letters, um, I mean better grant reports and brochures.

Whether you love to write or love to hate to write, good writing is an important skill. How you write says a lot about you and good writers are highly prized. In this webinar, we will go over a bunch useful tips to making your writing stand out. We will also engage in interactive exercises to practice what we’ve learned. Register for the Writing Tips webinar that will be held on February 24, 2012 at 10:00am PT. The webinar is free for CAMEO members. If you are not a CAMEO member and would like to audit a webinar, please contact us.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. A running tab of current Goodies is on the CAMEO website.

Member Conference: A whole bunch of CAMEO members in San Diego (ACCION San Diego, CDC Small Business Finance, Foundation for Women, International Rescue Committee) along with other partners will host the 2012 San Diego Microfinance Summit: Technology and Innovation on April 4, 2012 at the University of San Diego. Register and learn more.

THE CONFERENCE: AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Register for the conference and book your plane flight and hotel early for the best prices.

New Report: Small Business Majority released Making California’s new healthcare exchange work for small businesses. The report includes discussion on providing insurance at an appealing rate, providing valuable services to small businesses, constructing a successful marketing and outreach strategy, offers recommendations on how to create a robust exchange.

Free Webinar (hosted by AEO): Due to the state of the economy, accounts receivable (AR) management is one of the most pivotal and valuable traits for companies and organizations nationwide. Every 30 days receivables go down 12% in value. As lenders, effective AR Management can be the difference in your growth as an organization. In this webinar you will learn specific ways to improve your revenue cycle while at the same time gain experience in good collection techniques. Join AEO in taking a deep dive into the heart of valuable AR management and collection skills. Register for the webinar on February 16, 2012 from 10:00-1:00a.m. PST // 1:00-2:00p.m. EST.

California Small Farm Conference: The California Small Farm Conference will take place on March 4-6, 2012 in Valencia. It is the state’s premier gathering of small farmers, agricultural students, farmers’ market managers and others involved in the small farm industry. The three day educational conference includes day-long short courses and on-farm tours; focused workshops; engaging keynote addresses and numerous networking opportunities. Call 888-712-4188 to learn more about the conference.

CDFI Conference: Registration for the 2012 CDFI Institute is open! The Institute will take place on March 7th and 8th in Washington, DC at the Embassy Suites Convention Center Hotel. Learn more and register.

Free Legal Workshop: Attention business trainers and your clients, the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights are holding STARTING A BUSINESS 101: A FREE Legal Workshop to Help Your Business Idea Become Reality. The workshop will be on Thursday, March 8, 2012, 6:00-8:00pm at Mandela Gateway Community Room, 1350 7th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Register and learn more or email for questions.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of $20.6 million in grant funding for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Adult Program. DOL expects to award 17 grants of approximately $1.2 million each for 27-months. Any non-profit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status may apply for these grants to provide pre-release and post-release services (including job training) to ex-offenders returning to high-poverty, high-crime communities. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is March 13, 2012. Note to CAMEO members: you may want to partner with other prison groups to go after the funding and provide self-employment training.

Small Business Loan Fund Conference: The NADO Research Foundation’s Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) will host a conference on April 24-26, 2012 in Burlington, VT. The event includes sessions that offer best practice examples from peers, plenaries that bring in top notch leaders in small business finance and technical assistance, a roundtable of federal agency program staff and many opportunities for attendees to share and exchange information, suggestions for problem solving, and a format for learning about new programs or solutions that can be replicated in your region. Register and learn more.

Grant Opportunity: In 2012 the California Consumer Protection Foundation will be accepting applications for approximately $1 million of grants under the Telecommunication Consumer Education Fund (TCEF). Successful TCEF projects will support the efforts of community-based organizations to ensure that Californians become more informed, savvy consumers of wireless telecom services. The next 2012 application deadline is May 1, 2012. Learn more.

Open Source Entrepreneurship Curriculum: C.E.O. Women was perhaps most noted for its groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills. On December 21, 2011, C.E.O. Women unfortunately had to close its doors due to funding cutbacks and the difficult economy. Believing that their work and innovations could still be of great benefit to the micro-enterprise industry at large, they decided to open source their most valuable assets. CAMEO is proud to host CEO Women’s assets.

Take Action: Two-thirds of American small business leaders believe the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case hurts small companies. Our friends at the American Sustainable Business Council wants to overturn the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision. Learn more.

Breakdown of President Obama’s FY2013 Budget for Micro.

From Ann Sullivan, Madison Services Group, Inc.

Although we are wading through all the details of the President’s FY13 budget submission released yesterday, we have pulled out the proposed funding numbers for the programs for which we advocate.

First of all, the SBA recommended the PRIME program be eliminated. This program, which provides grants to organizations that provide business and credit assistance, was funded at $3.5 million in FY12. The microloan program, funded at $25 million last year, is proposed to be funded at $18 million with an additional $2.8 million in lending authority. Cut. Microloan technical assistance, funded at $20 million last year, is proposed to be funded at $19.8 million. Cut. The Women’s Business Center program, funded at $14 million last year is proposed to be funded at $12.6 million in FY13. Cut.

Faring better are USDA and Treasury programs. The USDA RMAP program received zero funding in FY12 but $22 million and $3.4 million in lending authority is recommended for FY13. The RBEG program proposed funding level for FY13 is $34 million, up $10 million from FY12. And the CDFI fund is proposed to stay at even funding for FY13 at $221 million.

Of course, the President proposes and the Congress appropriates, so these recommendations are just that—recommendations. However, the President’s budget submittal serves as a blueprint from which Congress takes its cues. Which means that the AEO community has a big mission to keep funding for programs critical to the underserved communities who need credit and credit assistance. Together, we have been successful in the past and rest assured we will continue to fight for those entrepreneurs who will lead us to full employment if just one in three add a job. That’s worth fighting for.

CAMEO believes that President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget does next to nothing to help the overwhelming majority of small business – the very small businesses with five or fewer employees that make up 88% of the nation’s businesses.

Contact
Heidi Pickman
415-992-4484
hpickman (at) microbiz (dot) org

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 14, 2012

According to CAMEO – the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity, President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget will not help nine-tenths of small businesses. The Budget contains support for small business in name only. However, the recommended cuts to programs will hurt the majority of small businesses.

The President’s FY 2013 Budget increases small business access to capital, but “proposes to terminate the PRIME Technical Assistance program” and reduce business technical assistance programs by eight percent.

It’s these business assistance programs – the mini-MBA’s, the programs that teach business owners to strategize a viable business model and write a well thought out business plan– that ensure the success of 88% of the nation’s businesses, or the 25.5 million businesses that are very small or micro-businesses with five or fewer employees.

Micro Enterprise Development Organizations provide training and services to a these entrepreneurs: the unemployed, the college graduate unable to find a job, women, minorities, and low income individuals. For these businesses to succeed, they need business management tools and skills, they need business networks and support systems, and they need access to capital.

“The first step to success for locally grown and start-up micro-businesses is business assistance: training and mentoring for new entrepreneurs,” says Claudia Viek, C.E.O. of CAMEO. “We surveyed our members, and found that when business owners receive business assistance, they have an 80% success rate and create two jobs on average over three-to-five years.”

It’s fairly well-established in the business research literature that the success rate for business start-ups is under 50%.

Increases in the Treasury and SBA loan programs have increased access to capital for the very small businesses. However, ‘access to capital’ must include business training and credit assistance or there won’t be a pipeline of loan ready businesses. The two go hand in hand.

If Start Up America wants to meet its goals, CAMEO believes it must understand that 1) all start-ups create jobs and 2) consideration of and help for very small businesses need to be part of the conversation. Microbusinesses constitute 88% of America’s businesses and have very different needs from other start-ups that are not addressed by SUA.

Contact
Heidi Pickman
415-992-4484
hpickman (at) microbiz (dot) org

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 9, 2012

For Start Up America to reach their goal of 100,000 registered start-ups by March 31, the initiative has to do more than engage venture capitalists in a contest. CAMEO believes the effort needs to engage the 25.5 million small businesses that are micro-businesses (fewer than five employees). Sure the discounts on laptops and six months of free online payroll subscription are great, but what many of these businesses really need is help with their business plan or cash flow projections.

“In 2010, venture capitalists invested approximately $22 billion into 2,800 companies. With a small fraction of the money, micro enterprise development organizations served over 200,000 businesses with entrepreneurial training (think mini-MBA) and microloans (loans under $50,000),” says Claudia Viek, C.E.O. of CAMEO. “If Start Up America is serious about registering 100,000 businesses, it needs to cultivate the existing micro-business infrastructure in addition to the VC community.

According to the 2011 Venture Impact study, produced by IHS Global Insight, originally venture-backed companies accounted for 11.87 million jobs and over $3.1 trillion in revenue in the United States (based on 2010 data). Those totals compare to 21% of GDP and 11% of private sector employment.

In comparison, according to Association for Enterprise Opportunity micro-businesses are 88% of all businesses, generate $2.4 trillion in receipts, account for 17% of GDP and employ more than 31 million people.

With less than three percent of the money, micro-businesses employ more people than venture capital firms and generate about 2/3 of the GDP.

If Start Up America wants to make it to its second birthday, it would do well to embrace all types of entrepreneurs from the florist and vet on Main Street to the next Twitter.

The following chart as pdf: MDO and VC investment

Micro Enterprise Development Organizations (MDOs)
Number of Organizations: 696
Businesses Assisted: 221,000
Money Invested: $90 million=loan volume; $500 million=approx. budgets of MDOs
GDP Receipts / Percentage: $2.4 trillion / 17%
Employment: 31 million
Investment per Job: $19

Venture Capital Firms
Number of Firms: 492
Businesses Assisted: 2,749
Money Invested: $22 billion VC invested
GDP Receipts / Percentage: $3.1 trillion / 21%
Employment: 11.87 million
Investment per Job: $1,833

• Feel the Love, Send the Love
• Writing Tips Webinar
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs.

Feel the Love, Send the Love

The Washington Post sent a little love our way by publishing a column by Claudia in response to the possible merger of the SBA and other federal agencies. Claudia wrote:

SBA is too focused on helping larger businesses, possibly a reflection of Ms. Mills’s background in venture capital…. We believe the SBA has largely ignored the needs of micro-businesses in America – despite the importance of such business in creating good local jobs.

Read the entire column, post comments and share widely with colleagues.

Then, send micro-love vibes to Claudia as she takes off for DC. On Monday, she’ll be the only practitioner in a small group addressing the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors on how to stimulate small business in under-served communities. And yes Fed Chair Ben Bernanke will be there. Claudia will make the case for micro and will ask the Fed to use its influence to support business technical assistance. Did you know venture capital creates 11.87 million jobs and micro enterprise creates 31 million? Neither did we until we looked. Check out a comparison of VC to MDO impacts. Claudia is going to leave this chart behind, feel free to use it as well.

On Monday, she’ll be the only practitioner in a small group addressing the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors on how to stimulate small business in under-served communities. And yes Fed Chair Ben Bernanke will be there. Claudia will make the case for micro and will ask the Fed to use its influence to support business technical assistance.

And we want to send out a little love to Sandy Mackovich from TMC Working Solutions, Michel Ottolia from VEDC, Otxin Echaide from Opportunity Fund and Scott Lewis from OBDC for participating in the Fancy Food Lenders forum on Tuesday and was sponsored by NASFT and CAMEO. The lenders discussed loan requirements, the terms of the loans and other aspects that would affect whether a company is eligible for microfinancing.

Writing Tips Webinar

Learn how to write those love letters, um, I mean better grant reports and brochures.

Whether you love to write or love to hate to write, good writing is an important skill. How you write says a lot about you and good writers are highly prized. In this webinar, we will go over a bunch useful tips to making your writing stand out. We will also engage in interactive exercises to practice what we’ve learned. Register for the Writing Tips webinar that will be held on February 24, 2012 at 10:00am PT. The webinar is free for CAMEO members. If you are not a CAMEO member and would like to audit a webinar, please contact us.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. A running tab of current Goodies is on the CAMEO website.

Webinar: BALLE Accelerating Community Capital Webinar Series presents Lending Circles: A Loan Model for Accessing Community Capital and Building Prosperity for All. Register for the webinar on February 14, 10:00-11:00 a.m. PT.

Survey:
Nonprofit Finance Fund is conducting its fourth annual nationwide survey examining the current state of the nonprofit sector. AEO and CAMEO hope that you will add your voice. The survey, which is anonymous and takes only 10-15 minutes to fill out, collects data on important financial and management issues facing the nonprofit sector. (View previous year’s findings and media attention.) Take the 2012 survey before February 15, 2012!

Free Webinar (hosted by AEO): Due to the state of the economy, accounts receivable (AR) management is one of the most pivotal and valuable traits for companies and organizations nationwide. Every 30 days receivables go down 12% in value. As lenders, effective AR Management can be the difference in your growth as an organization. In this webinar you will learn specific ways to improve your revenue cycle while at the same time gain experience in good collection techniques. Join AEO in taking a deep dive into the heart of valuable AR management and collection skills. Register for the webinar on February 16, 2012 from 10:00-1:00a.m. PST // 1:00-2:00p.m. EST.

California Small Farm Conference: The California Small Farm Conference will take place on March 4-6, 2012 in Valencia. It is the state’s premier gathering of small farmers, agricultural students, farmers’ market managers and others involved in the small farm industry. The three day educational conference includes day-long short courses and on-farm tours; focused workshops; engaging keynote addresses and numerous networking opportunities. Call 888-712-4188 to learn more about the conference.

CDFI Conference: Registration for the 2012 CDFI Institute is open! The Institute will take place on March 7th and 8th in Washington, DC at the Embassy Suites Convention Center Hotel. Learn more and register.

Free Legal Workshop: Attention business trainers and your clients, the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights are holding STARTING A BUSINESS 101: A FREE Legal Workshop to Help Your Business Idea Become Reality. The workshop will be on Thursday, March 8, 2012, 6:00-8:00pm at Mandela Gateway Community Room, 1350 7th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Register and learn more or email for questions.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of $20.6 million in grant funding for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Adult Program. DOL expects to award 17 grants of approximately $1.2 million each for 27-months. Any non-profit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status may apply for these grants to provide pre-release and post-release services (including job training) to ex-offenders returning to high-poverty, high-crime communities. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is March 13, 2012. Note to CAMEO members: you may want to partner with other prison groups to go after the funding and provide self-employment training.

Small Business Loan Fund Conference: The NADO Research Foundation’s Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) will host a conference on April 24-26, 2012 in Burlington, VT. The event includes sessions that offer best practice examples from peers, plenaries that bring in top notch leaders in small business finance and technical assistance, a roundtable of federal agency program staff and many opportunities for attendees to share and exchange information, suggestions for problem solving, and a format for learning about new programs or solutions that can be replicated in your region. Register and learn more.

Grant Opportunity: In 2012 the California Consumer Protection Foundation will be accepting applications for approximately $1 million of grants under the Telecommunication Consumer Education Fund (TCEF). Successful TCEF projects will support the efforts of community-based organizations to ensure that Californians become more informed, savvy consumers of wireless telecom services. The next 2012 application deadline is May 1, 2012. Learn more.

Open Source Entrepreneurship Curriculum: C.E.O. Women was perhaps most noted for its groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills. On December 21, 2011, C.E.O. Women unfortunately had to close its doors due to funding cutbacks and the difficult economy. Believing that their work and innovations could still be of great benefit to the micro-enterprise industry at large, they decided to open source their most valuable assets. CAMEO is proud to host CEO Women’s assets.

Take Action: Two-thirds of American small business leaders believe the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case hurts small companies. Our friends at the American Sustainable Business Council wants to overturn the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision. Learn more.

• Year of the Micro, Three More Bills
• Innovative Ideas to Bolster Your Clients
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight includes the groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills and other assets of C.E.O. Women.

Year of the Micro, Three More

The moment you’ve all been waiting for – the last of the federal bills, for now. CAMEO is involved in a bill that will be introduced in the next couple of months. And you never know, small business is all the rage. President Obama said he wants a small business bill on his desk. Let’s just hope by small, he doesn’t only mean $10 million plus. The following bills are on our radar and when they move, we’ll move.

• Growing Opportunities for Agriculture and Responding to Markets Act of 2011, S. 1888, was introduced by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) in November 2011. It will institute a lending program like RMAP to start a local farm businesses with 0% capital and an 85% federal loan guarantee.
• Investing in America’s Small Businesses Act, H.R. 3635, was introduced by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in December 2011; Representative Laura Richardson (D-CA) is a co-sponsor. It would give new loan loss reserves and funding for CDFIs. While CAMEO supports this bill in theory, it contains some previsions that we feel are too restrictive, i.e. small business loans are limited to $25,000.
• Two bills, one in the Senate (Wyden) and one in the House (Doggett) were introduced in December 2011 that would help unemployed workers to start their own businesses. However, someone attached an amendment to eliminate PRIME. We will not support this bill until that provision is removed.

A lot of bills, but that’s good for us! Refer to a recent Must Know to learn what our priorities are for this year: funding technical assistance, schedule C help and crowdfunding.

Innovative Ideas to Bolster Your Clients

Occasionally we come across really interesting tools or events that can help your clients. Have you ever tried a pitch-a-thon or cash mob. A pitch-a-thon is kind of a beauty contest for business ideas. A cash mob is using social networks to get a whole bunch of people to spend $10, $20 at a local area/store. email me if you’ve done either, what your experience has been, or if you’re interested in learning more.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. A running tab of current Goodies is on the CAMEO website.

Open Source Entrepreneurship Curriculum: C.E.O. Women was perhaps most noted for its groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills. On December 21, 2011, C.E.O. Women unfortunately had to close its doors due to funding cutbacks and the difficult economy. Believing that their work and innovations could still be of great benefit to the micro-enterprise industry at large, they decided to open source their most valuable assets. CAMEO is proud to host CEO Women’s assets.

Bay Area Conference: Join the Alliance for Community Development for an interactive day to increase your confidence in managing the financial position of your business and capacity to acquire capital. Recognize that financial management is NOT about having perfect financial statements it is about Managing By the Numbers. The Financial Foundations for Accessing Capital conference is on February 7, 2012, 8:30a.m.-4:00p.m. at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th Street, #290, Oakland, CA 94607-4295.

Survey:
Nonprofit Finance Fund is conducting its fourth annual nationwide survey examining the current state of the nonprofit sector. AEO and CAMEO hope that you will add your voice. The survey, which is anonymous and takes only 10-15 minutes to fill out, collects data on important financial and management issues facing the nonprofit sector. (View previous year’s findings and media attention.) Take the 2012 survey before February 15, 2012!

Free Webinar (hosted by AEO): Due to the state of the economy, accounts receivable (AR) management is one of the most pivotal and valuable traits for companies and organizations nationwide. Every 30 days receivables go down 12% in value. As lenders, effective AR Management can be the difference in your growth as an organization. In this webinar you will learn specific ways to improve your revenue cycle while at the same time gain experience in good collection techniques. Join AEO in taking a deep dive into the heart of valuable AR management and collection skills. Register for the webinar on February 16, 2012 from 10:00-1:00a.m. PST // 1:00-2:00p.m. EST.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of $20.6 million in grant funding for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Adult Program. DOL expects to award 17 grants of approximately $1.2 million each for 27-months. Any non-profit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status may apply for these grants to provide pre-release and post-release services (including job training) to ex-offenders returning to high-poverty, high-crime communities. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is March 13, 2012. Note to CAMEO members: you may want to partner with other prison groups to go after the funding and provide self-employment training.

Economic Gardening Professional Certification: The National Center for Economic Gardening is now accepting applications for the spring Economic Gardening Professional Certification program. After completing the online application, please submit your resume electronically to Jessica Nelson, Operations Manager, Entrepreneurship Department, Edward Lowe Foundation.

CDFI Conference: Registration for the 2012 CDFI Institute is open! The Institute will take place on March 7th and 8th in Washington, DC at the Embassy Suites Convention Center Hotel. Learn more and register.

Small Business Loan Fund Conference: The NADO Research Foundation’s Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) will host a conference on April 24-26, 2012 in Burlington, VT. The event includes sessions that offer best practice examples from peers, plenaries that bring in top notch leaders in small business finance and technical assistance, a roundtable of federal agency program staff and many opportunities for attendees to share and exchange information, suggestions for problem solving, and a format for learning about new programs or solutions that can be replicated in your region. Register and learn more.

Grant Opportunity: In 2012 the California Consumer Protection Foundation will be accepting applications for approximately $1 million of grants under the Telecommunication Consumer Education Fund (TCEF). Successful TCEF projects will support the efforts of community-based organizations to ensure that Californians become more informed, savvy consumers of wireless telecom services. The next 2012 application deadline is May 1, 2012. Learn more.

For your clients:: CFED and Bank of the West are pleased to share a new Financial Education Guide designed specifically for taxpayers receiving assistance at VITA programs. This free, easy-to-read guide (available in English and Spanish) walks clients through some important things to consider when they receive their refunds to help them make the most of the money they expect to receive.

Take Action: Two-thirds of American small business leaders believe the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case hurts small companies. Our friends at the American Sustainable Business Council wants to overturn the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision. Learn more.

• Year of the Micro: Davos, 11 bills
• State of the Union
• The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight includes the groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills and other assets of C.E.O. Women.

Year of the Micro: Davos, 11 bills

Never before has so much attention been on micro-business. The world’s economic and business leaders meet in Davos Switzerland this week for their annual World Economic Forum. The founder, Professor Klaus Schwab, writes

The key to mitigating a catastrophic situation is to provide young people with the capability to create their own jobs: to move from the pure concept of unemployment to the concept of micro-entrepreneurship. This will require fundamental changes in educational systems, nurturing a societal spirit of entrepreneurial risk-taking…

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Micro-entrepreneurship is being recognized on the world stage as a new model for job creation. Something we’ve known all along.

On the domestic front, I found two more bills that were introduced in April of last year that will expand access to capital for very small businesses. More specifically, the companion bills (one in the House and one in the Senate) would increase the percentage of credit union assets that may be loaned from 12.25 percent to 27.5 to its member businesses, as long as certain safeguards and monitoring are met. The bills introduced are H.R. 1418 by Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA) and S. 509 by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO). The bills have bi-partisan support in both houses including lots of California sponsors. Click on the bill link above to find out if your representative co-sponsored the bill. And everyone can thank Senators Boxer and Feinstein with a quick note:

Thank your ongoing support of micro-businesses. I just learned you are a co-sponsor on S509 which will increase capital available to very small businesses.
Please make another consideration. In order to deploy the capital successfully, we need to invest in entrepreneurial training. You can read more: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9139621.htm

These bills bring the total of micro-related bills in Congress to 11. You now know about seven. Refer to last week’s Must Know to learn what our priorities are for this year: funding technical assistance, schedule C help and crowdfunding.

State of the Union

As you may have heard: “The state of our Union is getting stronger.” The President mentioned “small business” three times, once in the context of broadband access for rural businesses and twice on what he proposes, which seem like more of the same. Read a summary of the main ideas in his speech from our DC political team, CAMEO’s response, and the whole magilla if you missed it.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. A running tab of current Goodies is on the CAMEO website.

Open Source Entrepreneurship Curriculum: C.E.O. Women was perhaps most noted for its groundbreaking ESL (English as a Second Language) entrepreneurship curriculum designed for entrepreneurs with limited English skills. On December 21, 2011, C.E.O. Women unfortunately had to close its doors due to funding cutbacks and the difficult economy. Believing that their work and innovations could still be of great benefit to the micro-enterprise industry at large, they decided to open source their most valuable assets. CAMEO is proud to host CEO Women’s assets.

Free webinar: CFED will release the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard in a national webinar on January 31 at 9:00am PST //noon EST. The webinar, The 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard: How Financially Secure are Families?, will highlight key national and state findings, including the latest asset poverty rates and other measures of financial security and opportunity. Register to find out how your state fares in helping its residents achieve financial security.

For Your Clients: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking nominations for awards honoring the critical economic role small businesses play in federally funded research and development through SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2012.

Grant Opportunity: In 2012 the California Consumer Protection Foundation will be accepting applications for approximately $1 million of grants under the Telecommunication Consumer Education Fund (TCEF). Successful TCEF projects will support the efforts of community-based organizations to ensure that Californians become more informed, savvy consumers of wireless telecom services. The 2012 application deadlines are February 1, 2012 and May 1, 2012. Learn more.

Bay Area Conference: Join the Alliance for Community Development for an interactive day to increase your confidence in managing the financial position of your business and capacity to acquire capital. Recognize that financial management is NOT about having perfect financial statements it is about Managing By the Numbers. The Financial Foundations for Accessing Capital conference is on February 7, 2012, 8:30a.m.-4:00p.m. at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th Street, #290, Oakland, CA 94607-4295.

Survey:
Nonprofit Finance Fund is conducting its fourth annual nationwide survey examining the current state of the nonprofit sector. AEO and CAMEO hope that you will add your voice. The survey, which is anonymous and takes only 10-15 minutes to fill out, collects data on important financial and management issues facing the nonprofit sector. (View previous year’s findings and media attention.) Take the 2012 survey before February 15, 2012!

Free Webinar (hosted by AEO): Due to the state of the economy, accounts receivable (AR) management is one of the most pivotal and valuable traits for companies and organizations nationwide. Every 30 days receivables go down 12% in value. As lenders, effective AR Management can be the difference in your growth as an organization. In this webinar you will learn specific ways to improve your revenue cycle while at the same time gain experience in good collection techniques. Join AEO in taking a deep dive into the heart of valuable AR management and collection skills. Register for the webinar on February 16, 2012 from 10:00-1:00a.m. PST // 1:00-2:00p.m. EST.

Grant Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of $20.6 million in grant funding for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Adult Program. DOL expects to award 17 grants of approximately $1.2 million each for 27-months. Any non-profit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status may apply for these grants to provide pre-release and post-release services (including job training) to ex-offenders returning to high-poverty, high-crime communities. The Solicitation for Grant Applications is available on the Employment and Training Administration website. The deadline is March 13, 2012. Note to CAMEO members: you may want to partner with other prison groups to go after the funding and provide self-employment training.

Economic Gardening Professional Certification: The National Center for Economic Gardening is now accepting applications for the spring Economic Gardening Professional Certification program. After completing the online application, please submit your resume electronically to Jessica Nelson, Operations Manager, Entrepreneurship Department, Edward Lowe Foundation.

CDFI Conference: Registration for the 2012 CDFI Institute is open! The Institute will take place on March 7th and 8th in Washington, DC at the Embassy Suites Convention Center Hotel. Learn more and register.

Small Business Loan Fund Conference: The NADO Research Foundation’s Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) will host a conference on April 24-26, 2012 in Burlington, VT. The event includes sessions that offer best practice examples from peers, plenaries that bring in top notch leaders in small business finance and technical assistance, a roundtable of federal agency program staff and many opportunities for attendees to share and exchange information, suggestions for problem solving, and a format for learning about new programs or solutions that can be replicated in your region. Register and learn more.

For your clients:: CFED and Bank of the West are pleased to share a new Financial Education Guide designed specifically for taxpayers receiving assistance at VITA programs. This free, easy-to-read guide (available in English and Spanish) walks clients through some important things to consider when they receive their refunds to help them make the most of the money they expect to receive.

For Your Clients: Learn about a really neat new tool for your clients called pubfish that allows them to have a web presence in minutes. Find out when free webinars are offered (Tuesday and Thursdays in January) and/or let your clients know about it.

For your clients: CARAT is providing technology training programs for free to small businesses in California. Check out the schedules for January 2012.

Take Action: Two-thirds of American small business leaders believe the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case hurts small companies. Our friends at the American Sustainable Business Council wants to overturn the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision. Learn more.

From Washington DC to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, the world will be talking about micro-and small business. As the U.S. Congress starts work this week, legislators will consider 11 bills related to micro-business – from access to capital to entrepreneurship training to self-employment tax help. Meanwhile, across the pond economic leaders will discuss new models for job creation including micro-entrepreneurship.

Contact
Heidi Pickman
415-992-4484
hpickman (at) microbiz (dot) org

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 26, 2012

After researching bills in Congress, CAMEO – California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity – has found 11 micro-related bills in Congress that will be considered for this session that will help very small businesses. In the same week as Congress goes back to work, economic leaders meet in Davos, Switzerland and one of their four main topics is new models of job creation that includes helping the unemployed become self-employed.

“Never before has so much attention been on micro-business in Congress and the streets of Davos,” said Claudia Viek, C.E.O. of CAMEO. “To have leaders abroad and close to home taking action and discussing ways to foster micro-business, confirms what I’ve known for 25 years – that micro-businesses create jobs and economic growth.”

The founder of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, writes, “The key to mitigating a catastrophic situation is to provide young people with the capability to create their own jobs: to move from the pure concept of unemployment to the concept of micro-entrepreneurship. This will require fundamental changes in educational systems, nurturing a societal spirit of entrepreneurial risk-taking…”,

Bills that are being considered in U.S. Congress encourage self-employment, provide tax credits for investment, offer access to capital for very small businesses and organizations that provide entrepreneurship training programs. More specifically, the bills would:

• increase business assistance and entrepreneurial training to very low-income individuals and youth entrepreneurs – H.R. 2809 by Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA);
• help low-income business owners formalize their businesses and file Schedule C taxes -H.R. 3571 by Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA);
• amend the securities laws to provide for registration exemptions for certain crowdfunded securities, and for other purposes – HR 2930 by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and S1970 by Sen. Jeff Merkeley (D-OR);
• increase the percentage of credit union assets that may be loaned from 12.25 percent to 27.5 to its member businesses, as long as certain safeguards and monitoring are met – H.R. 1418 by Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA) and (S. 509) by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO);
• provide new loan loss reserves and funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) – H.R. 3635 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY);
• provide tax credits for investment in small business, ease high skilled immigration, collect data, cost-benefit on small business for new regulation – S.1965 by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA);
• initiate a relending program to start a local farm biz with 0% capital and an 85% federal loan guarantee – S. 1888 by Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA);
• provide a 35 percent tax credit on up to about $30,000 of new investment help new enterprises start and existing enterprises grow – H.R. 2858 by Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wally Herger (R-CA); and
• include three other bills that help unemployed workers to start their own businesses

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Company Information:

CAMEO’s mission is to promote jobs, economic opportunity and community well-being through entrepreneurship training, business coaching and microfinance. CAMEO is California’s statewide Micro Enterprise association made up of over 160 organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to furthering the fortunes of micro-businesses in California.

Contact
Heidi Pickman
415-992-4484
hpickman (at) microbiz (dot) org

San Francisco (PRWEB) January 25, 2012

Yes, the State of the Union concentrated on cooperation and responsibility. About a third into his speech, President Obama also challenged Congress to get him a small business bill. “Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to grow,” said President Obama. “Expand tax relief to small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs.” CAMEO, (the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity), challenges the President to ensure that the small business bill works for all small businesses – and that means investment in entrepreneurial training.

Of all businesses in the U.S., 99.7 percent are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees; 88 percent are very small businesses with fewer than 5 employees. Our economic policies need to support the entire range of entrepreneurs – from the home-based consultant to the food truck owner to the tech start-up.

“Our economic policies need to shift from old methods that may have worked in the past to new, innovative, creative and flexible methods that will work for today’s economy,” says Claudia Viek, C.E.O. of CAMEO. “In my 25 years of experience, the first step to success for these locally grown and start-up micro-businesses is business assistance. Then they are ready to get a loan and grow.”

“We have money to lend, but struggle to find loan-ready borrowers,” says Emily Gasner, Executive Director of Working Solutions, a microlender who underwrites loans under $50,000. “Besides loans, ‘access to capital’ has to include the funds and programs that enable business owners to be loan ready, like have cash flow statements and a well thought out business plan that demonstrates a viable business model. We also need to support the businesses after they receive the loan with business advising services.”

Company Information:

CAMEO’s mission is to promote jobs, economic opportunity and community well-being through entrepreneurship training, business coaching and microfinance. CAMEO is California’s statewide Micro Enterprise association made up of over 160 organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to furthering the fortunes of micro-businesses in California.

Martin Feeney, our guy in DC sent us this summary of the call, i.e. what’s on the president’s mind.

The Blueprint is broken into four major components, as outlined last night during the President’s remarks. Based on a viewing of the address, the briefing call, and a review of the Blueprint, here is a brief overview.

Manufacturing

• President will focus on insourcing of jobs, by encouraging manufacturing in US.
• Proposed closing loopholes that encourage companies to outsource, and reducing tax rates to 20% for manufacturers and doubling the tax deduction for high-tech manufacturers.
• Make R&D credit permanent.

Skills & Training

• Increase partnerships with community colleges to teach new skills to 2 million Americans.
• Reform job training and unemployment services to better meet the needs of displaced workers (no specific mention of SEA or WIA, although WIA is implied.)
• Immigration reform/encourage vet-work programs/equal pay initiatives.
• Help start-ups and small businesses succeed and create jobs by reforming regulations and expanding tax relief, which includes:
• expand access to capital for small businesses by reforming regulations that prevent entrepreneurs from getting financing and by expanding tax relief to start-ups and small businesses
• streamlining government resources that help support small business (which equals his proposal to streamline 6 federal agencies announced two weeks ago)

Read CAMEO’s response to the President’s State of the Union.

Energy

• Expand exploration and production of natural gas in America in a clean manner.
• Focus on clean energy technology with the help of government investments.
• Make US leader in clean energy technology.

Values

• Pay your fair share, for all to have a fair shot.
• Earners making more than $1 million would pay 30% in taxes and lose certain deductions.
• Called on Congress to pass payroll tax break through 2012.
• Proposed allowing all homeowners to be able to refinance.
• Investments in infrastructure to be paid for in part by reduced/savings on war costs.

On a side note, we have been hearing that the President plans to introduce a broad corporate tax reform proposal along with his Budget release on Feb. 13. No specifics, just that one is in the works.

Read the full 2012 State of the Union Address.

Read the“Blueprint for An America Built to Last.