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CAMEO Advocates For Additonal SBA Finding in the Senate Stimulus Bill.l
Click here to read letter.
CAMEO sent this letter to Senators Boxer and Feinstein and Speaker Pelosi to urge more funding for the SBA Micro Enterprise programs than currently recommended by the Senate Appropriations Committee. We continue to see TARP as a potential funding source for our members’ work and will keep up our advocacy efforts in this vein.
We encourage you to call their offices early in the week.
Boxer: 202-224-3553
Feinstein: 202-224-3841
Pelosi: 202-225-4965
Onward!
Claudia and the CAMEO Team.
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Federal Microenterprise Funds in Danger!
Federal funding for microenterprise is in jeopardy as, this year,
the President's budget proposes the elimination of the SBA Microloan
Program, the single largest source of funding for the microenterprise
industry in the United States! Also zeroed out is the PRIME program
(Program for Investments in Microentrepreneurs). In Federal Fiscal
Year 2004 the actual funding levels for these programs were $40
million.
We need you to send a targeted message to your representatives
and help them understand the importance of supporting microenterprise
development and the need to include this funding in the federal
budget. As more and more California jobs continue to disappear,
legislators have a vested interest in seeing that small businesses
in your community continue to receive federal support. Small business,
especially, microenterprise, continues to be the primary source
of new jobs for the state of California. In fact, from 2000-2001
(the most recent period for which statewide data is available),
microentrepreneurs created employment for 62,731 Californians,
accounting for nearly 64% of all new employment
growth.
Our goal is to have your representative include the federal funds
that serve microenterprise development programs—Microloan
Fund, PRIME, CDFI Fund, and Women's Business Centers—in their
"program request letter."
Just follow these 3 easy steps to make your voice heard:
1. Go to www.microenterpriseworks.org
and enter your zip code in the "Contact Congress" sticker
in the upper right-hand corner of the page. This will open AEO's
Entrepreneur Action Center tailored to your Congressional District.
2. Near the middle of the page, there is a section entitled "Write
Your Elected Officials." Select the link to the "Congressional
Support for Microenterprise in FY 2005" message. (If your
zip code splits congressional districts, you will need to enter
additional location information.)
3. On this page you can:
a) Choose the recipients and format of your message (e-mail or mail).
Due to security concerns, mail to legislators is often delayed
by several months. CAMEO recommends sending an e-mail message.
b) Add any optional text. (CAMEO recommends personalizing your
plea to help your representatives understand the tremendous impact
that your services have in your community.)
c) Fill in your personal information.
d) Send your message on its way. (Be sure to click the "Send
Message" button at the bottom of the page.)
AEO’s
Advocacy Resource Center has Talking Points, Fact Sheets, Congressional
Meeting Tips, and Key Congressional Targets as well as sample advocacy
letters, e-mails, and call scripts.
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