Viva Las Micro-Empresas! Developing Latino Microentrepreneurs
October 16-17, 2007
San Diego, CA
Latinos are starting small businesses faster than any other group in California. To help our members assist the successful start up and growth of Latino entrepreneurs, CAMEO has teamed up with the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) to offer the Regional Training Institute Viva Las Micro-Empresas!
Opportunity Recognition Strategies
September 25, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Success in today’s rapidly changing business landscape requires small business and the organizations that support small business growth to refine their ability to recognize opportunity and develop strategies for seizing that opportunity. “ Dr. Osborne will share the necessary skill sets and factors to be considered in assessing and acting upon profitable growth opportunities for your organization.
California Self Employment Tax Initiative (CA-SETI)
September 25, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Filing the Schedule C is the single most important entry point for acknowledging and formalizing microbusinesses in the US, and it represents an opportunity to reach low and moderate income entrepreneurs who could benefit from business assistance, microloans, and in some cases from Earned Income Tax Credit. It can also function as an annual tool for helping new owners understand their business’ finances.
Leading Through Change and Transition Webinar
June 22, 2007
We all live and work in complex, dynamic environments in which the rate of change is constantly escalating. In these times of swirling change, one of the key challenges for us as leaders is how to successfully manage ourselves and others so that we remain healthy and able to fully contribute to our organizations' achieving their mission. This highly interactive session is designed to help participants meet this challenge.
Think Bigger, Work Smarter! Restructuring Your Microenterprise Program Webinar
March 19, 2007
Going it alone and liking it less? Challenged to scale up and feeling resource-constrained? This webinar will explore strategies for scale up that are based on restructuring institutional relations—from strategic alliances to co-branding and outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions. Elaine Edgcomb and Joyce Klein, authors of Opening Opportunities, Building Ownership: Fulfilling the Promise of Microenterprise in the United States will present the case for strategic restructuring, review case examples and lessons learned, and offer you an opportunity to assess your readiness for strategic restructuring.
Executive Leadership Program for Microenterprise Practitioners San Francisco, CA
October 23-24, 2006
Designed for Executive Directors, Board and Managers of Microenterprise Development Programs, this two-day retreat will kick off a program devoted to the leadership development goals of microenterprise professionals.
From Earned Income to Social Enterprise: Creating a Social Venture for your Non-Profit Organization Web-based TeleWorkshop
Thursday, October 10, 2006
10:00am-11:30am PDT
As non-profits, we are all searching for new revenues while maintaining our values and commitment to our missions. One new opportunity that organizations are pursuing is Social Enterprises. Join REDF, a leader in the field of Social Enterprise, to learn what Social Enterprises are and why (or why not) they may be right for you. Using the example of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, gain an understanding of a working model and determine what your next steps would be to consider such an undertaking for your organization.
Integrating Savings and Credit Oakland, CA July 20, 2006
CAMEO, in partnership with CFED and the Asset Policy Initiative of California (APIC), presented Integrating Savings and Credit. This one-day in-person training was designed for microenterprise and IDA practitioners. The training provided a system for evaluating the costs and benefits of integrating microenterprise and IDA services, solid product development and training tools, as well as lessons and best practices from experienced IDA and microenterprise programs.
The training and the trainer received high marks from the participants. One noted, “I learned much more than expected. The training was very helpful and presented in a warm and participatory manner.” Many participants commented that an important part of the training was the networking and peer learning that took place during the break out sessions and during the breaks.
A participant describes the results from her group’s break out session to the rest of the audience.
Janice Trapp of Marin City Community Development Corporation smiles while considering how an IDA program could complement her program.
The trainer discusses a question that participant Megan O’Neil has during a break out activity.
Funders
Symposium Discusses MED Needs October 27, 2004 Oakland, CA
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.
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.
Microenterprise
Training Gets Record Attendance September 16-17, 2004 San Francisco, CA
Marie
Spaulding from Women's Economic Ventures facilitates group
discussions with participants in Operating a Successful
Microenterprise Program
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.
CAMEO’s
Data Collection Learning Cluster Online Training Sessions September 28 and October 5,
2004 Online
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.
Microenterprise
and Big Business Event a Success! July 2004 Fresno, CA 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.
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.”
