 |
Robert
Friedman, founder of the Corporation for Enterprise Development,
Inger Brinck, Program Officer for the Women’s Foundation
of California, and Myra Holmes, owner of Star Partners Security
Services and a graduate of the Renaissance Entrepreneurship
Center, at CAMEO’s Funder’s Symposium on Microenterprise
Development. |
Funders
Symposium Discusses MED Needs (October 27, 2004)
In October,
CAMEO hosted the Funders' Symposium on Microenterprise Development,
an educational program for organizations seeking to learn more about
how to implement or expand support for microenterprise. Over twenty
people attended and a great deal of discussion was generated on
the funding needs of CAMEO members and how the capacity of microenterprise
development programs could be enhanced. We received a lot of positive
comments from the funders who participated and CAMEO hopes to hold
similar events throughout the state in order to raise awareness
for microenterprise and cultivate partnerships with funders.
top of page
 |
Marie
Spaulding from Women’s Economic Ventures facilitates group
discussions with participants in Operating a Successful Microenterprise
Program |
Microenterprise
Training Gets Record Attendance
(September 16-17, 2004)
This September, CAMEO offered
two days of specialized training on Operating a Successful
Microenterprise Program in San Francisco. The training
was designed to serve the needs of those starting a microenterprise
development program, board and staff of emerging programs, and new
staff of established programs. Demand for the training was so high
that a last-minute change of venue was needed (from the Renaissance
Entrepreneurship Center to San Francisco State University) to accommodate
39 participants from California and Oregon.
Marie Spaulding from Women’s
Economic Ventures in Santa Barbara led participants
through the basics of running a microenterprise program including
client screening, assessment and referral, program funding, marketing
and outreach, and developing follow-up services for microentrepreneurs
such as mentoring and support groups. The training also covered
fundraising for microloan programs, client outreach strategies,
data collection for reporting and program evaluation, and developing
programs and services that cover the entire microenterprise lifecycle.
Several best-practices examples gave participants concrete tools
to help take their programs to the next level.
Those just entering the field were well served by the training.
“As a new person to microenterprise, I found that the training
was a good crash course,” said one participant. “It
gave me a taste of microenterprise development, and the training
will support me as I work to develop our microenterprise program.”
Attendees gained in-depth knowledge and acquired the skills to start
a microenterprise development program in their community. One attendee
remarked that the “specific information on the ‘nuts
and bolts’ of a microenterprise program was very helpful.”
CAMEO is proud to be able to offer these valuable trainings and
leverage the collective knowledge of California’s microenterprise
practitioners to improve microenterprise programs statewide. Operating
a Successful Microenterprise Program was made possible by financial
support from California Bank and Trust.
top of page
CAMEO’s Data Collection
Learning Cluster Online Training Sessions
(September 28 and October 5, 2004)
In conjunction with trainers from the Aspen
Institute, CAMEO held interactive
online training sessions on two days in the Fall of 2004. These
online workshops were accessible by most computers and featured
leading data collection experts in the microenterprise field. This
program helped participating organizations identify their data collection
and technology needs, form a work plan to meet these needs, and
gain access to the knowledge and resources they need to implement
this plan quickly and effectively.
Data collection is vitally important for nonprofits in order to
provide funders with quantative information on the results of their
programs.
Subjects covered in the conference included: data collection for
microenterprise development; management information systems including
MicroTest and their importance in performance management and outcomes
tracking; and performance measurement.
Elaine Edgcomb and Tamra Thetford served as
trainers for both sessions. Elaine Edgcomb is the Director of the
Aspen Institute's Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness,
Learning and Dissemination (FIELD). Tamra Thetford is Research Associate
at the Aspen Institute's Economic Opportunities Program.
MicroTest is a project of the FIELD program (Microenterprise
Fund for
Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination) at the Aspen
Institute. Its mission is to help microenterprise programs assess
and
improve performance. MicroTest enables microenterprise development
practitioners to assess their effectiveness. It provides practitioners
with a suite of products and services.
For more information on MicroTest, visit http://fieldus.org/li/microtest.html
For more information on FIELD, visit http://fieldus.org/home/index.html
For more information on the Aspen Institute, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org
top
of page
Microenterprise
and Big Business Event a Success! (July 2004)
Local business and government leaders hope to create 30,000 jobs
in the Central Valley region over the next five years. Microenterprise
will play a huge role in this effort.
“We know that we're not going to create those jobs by (drawing)
Boeing or Microsoft,” said Fred Burkhardt, the economic development
director for the City of Fresno and a committee member of the Regional
Jobs Initiative.
Burkhardt was a speaker at CAMEO’s July 28 public education
event in Fresno—Microenterprise and Big Business:
A Partnership for Central Valley Prosperity, co–sponsored
by Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency (CFESS) and
hosted by UC Merced Small Business Development Center Regional Network,
Valley Small Business Development Corporation, Fresno West Coalition
for Economic Development, Craig School of Business, Central California
Small Business Development Center, and California FarmLink.
The early morning event drew 30 people, highlighted ways in which
big business and government can work with microenterprise development
programs (generating several ideas for future collaboration), and
was the subject of an article in the Fresno Bee.
Microenterprise has been receiving loads of attention due to the
passage of SB 1156 and the tireless advocacy work of CAMEO members.
top of page
Microloan
Training in Burbank (March 2004)
On March 31, CAMEO and Valley
Economic Development Center (VEDC) joined forces in
Burbank to produce Microloan Program Basics, a
specialized training on the planning, implementation,
and maintenance of a microloan
program. The VEDC team, led by Angela Bautista, Roberto Barragan,
and Vladimir Victorio, guided 35 participants through program marketing,
client screening, scoring and approving loan applications, servicing
loans, collecting on delinquent accounts, performing annual portfolio
reviews, and providing ongoing technical assistance to borrowers.
VEDC’s microloan veterans
emphasized the need for programs to carefully select their loan
clients and to work closely with borrowers, providing them with
ongoing training to maximize the impact of the loan. While championing
microloan programs as vital to clients who cannot access capital
through traditional channels, VEDC was quick to admit the challenge
of creating and maintaining a microloan program compared to other
small business financing options.
Attendees came
away with a deeper understanding of the organizational ingenuity
and discipline needed to build and sustain a microloan program.
One participant
remarked: “Microlending is about being flexible and creative
and working closely with your borrowers.”
Another offered
this advice: “Don’t lend if you don’t have the
guts to do collections.”
top of page
CAMEO and AEO
Lead Oakland Training (September 2003)
CAMEO and AEO joined together in
Oakland on September 17-19 to present a one-day funding institute
titled Grants, Fees, Donations: Raising Money for Microenterprise
Development, and a two-day advanced training institute
which covered topics such as developing an access-to-markets program,
developing high-quality trainers, integrating Independent Development
Accounts and microenterprise, developing an effective peer lending
program, providing high-impact technical assistance, and developing
risk-management strategies.
The training was attended by 147 people from many different states.
Comments from the participants included:
“Real concrete suggestions to our real pressing
problems.”
“The training was informative and all-encompassing.”
“Wide range of fundraising strategies
addressed by proven experts.”
top of page
Counting
Success in San Diego (June 2003)
On June 11 and 12, CAMEO offered
the Counting Success: Management Information Systems for
Microenterprise training in San Diego. The training was
presented by Chuck Waterfield and Jerry Black from the Aspen Institute.
The training helped practitioners to identify their organizations’
management information systems needs and select a system that works.
The program also expanded members’ knowledge of MicroTest,
the national program that increases the capacity of microenterprise
practitioners to gather and generate key program performance data
and client outcomes.
Attendees were very pleased with the training:
“I really appreciated the breadth of the information presented.
It covered all major topics of MIS selection, and I liked the presentations
made by MIS vendors with products that are suitable for the microenterprise
field.”
“I learned that designing an MIS system starts by considering
the questions you want answered, then it’s a matter of choosing
a system that fits rather than trying to obtain all the bells and
whistles.”
“The information was useful and didn’t push one MIS
system over another, but let me choose my own system.”
top of page
CAMEO Brings
AEO Training to Sacramento (April 2003)
Over 50 staff of microenterprise programs attended CAMEO’s
practitioner training, Access to Markets: A Key to Building
Small Businesses, held in Sacramento April 3 and 4. Association
for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) provided the training and Wells
Fargo generously underwrote the program. This program provided members
with valuable information on innovative service delivery methods
to promote small business growth. CAMEO received very positive comments
from attendees:
“I learned some good guerilla marketing
techniques and picked up a few ideas for creating venues for access
to markets.”
“I learned the importance of identifying
potential client needs first and not fashioning marketing around
my organization’s services.”
“I liked the fact the exercises applied
to real world scenarios.”
“Excellent trainer, excellent teaching strategies
and activities!”
top of page
|
