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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Speak up: The House of Representatives has an open mic forum for small businesses. You should 1) let the House know that technical assistance needs to be preserved because … (Fill in the blank) and 2) send the link to your clients to have them describe the value of technical assistance.
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.
Archived Webinar: Friedman Associates have made their “Innovations in Green Microenterprise Development in Rural Communities” webinar available. Download the powerpoint for watch the whole webinar.
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: Google is helping small business with free websites.
For your clients: Both the state of California and the U.S. government have opened small business portals.
For your clients: Little Independent is a website that seeks to be the alternative to Amazon for small businesses. Your clients can list items for very low cost to sell online and capture a large audience. Pass on their brochure to your clients.
For your clients: CARAT has funding from the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to provide technology training to small businesses in California. This is stimulus project funding through the US Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA). CARAT is collaborating with partners in six regions in California to administer the targeted technology training program for free. Check out their latest schedule.
For your clients: AEO is collecting stories of your clients’ businesses and their impact on their community to show the power of Micro. Clients will be highlighted on the AEO website and in our annual AEO500 report and be able to connect and collaborate with other businesses.
For your clients: Small Business Trends has a list of contests and awards available to small businesses.
For your clients: The California Health Coverage Guide is an online resource available in English and Spanish that provides California small business owners with objective, step-by-step information on how to navigate the healthcare market.
From the White House: Disability.gov has a bunch of resources for the disabled who want to be their own boss.
Resources for Women: The Department of Labor and Small Business Administration recently held a “Women Small Business Owners” conference call.
From the Federal Reserve of San Francisco: The SF Fed produced a new volume of Community Investments – Income Inequality’s Impact on Community Development including a piece by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
New Book: Former CAMEO C.E.O, Catherine Marshall, has written a book – Field Building: Your Blueprint for Creating an Effective and Powerful Social Movement. Field Building walks you through the complex tasks associated with launching and building a social movement, and provides the step-by-step guidance to ensure that your effort takes root-and takes off. It also provides real-life examples and points you to further resources you’ll need as you grow your movement. Congratulations Catherine!
