New Address: Two Embarcadero Center, 8th floor, San Francisco, CA 94111     

CAMEO Goes to Nawlins for AEO

  • CAMEO at AEO
  • 20th Anniversary Celebration
  • Micro Goes To Market, A Specialty Foods Conference in Watsonville
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is BALLE’s Prosperity for All conference from June 11-13, 2014 in Oakland. The conference will dive deep into the most energized issues in the Localist movement today. Early bird rates end May 12th.

CAMEO at AEO

Lucky 13 – that’s how many CAMEO members will be presenting at AEO! John Arensmeyer, Marsha Bailey, Roberto Barragan, Anthony Chang, Shufina English, Ron Fong, Boku Kodama, Leanne Krueger-Branesky, Arturo Noriega, Heidi Pickman, Ann Sullivan, Claudia Viek, and Eric Weaver will be talking about all things micro from CRA to ag loans to veteran and encore entrepreneurs to self-employment. Altogether the California contingent to New Orleans numbers over three dozen. Hmmm, wonder if brass bands and gumbo have anything to do with it…

20th Anniversary Celebration

Connie EvansIf you can’t make it to AEO, we’ll bring AEO to you. Come to Sacramento to celebrate 20 years of CAMEO. Our morning session includes AEO’s CEO, Connie Evans (bio), Todd Greene (bio), Vice President, Community Development, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Dell Gines (bio), Senior Community Development Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. They’ll be talking about the landscape of micro and self-employment at the national level and the best ways to expand and serve the field.

Micro Goes To Market

Many CAMEO members are seeing an increase in clients in the food sector – from raw foods to wholesale products to artisan creations. CAMEO has teamed up with the Specialty Food Association and El Pajaro to offer up a full day of learning about the food industry: what business and marketing opportunities are available, how to stay viable and competitive, and where to secure financing.

Micro Goes to Market,
Specialty Foods Conference

May 28, 2014
9:00am – 4:00pm Conference
4:30pm – 6:00pm Networking Reception
Watsonville Civic Plaza

If you’re interested in starting a food business or work with food businesses, Micro Goes to Market is for you. Join us!

Learn more and register for the Micro Goes to Market, Specialty Foods Conference.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

Member Kudos: Congrats to Michelle Skiljan, the talented executive director of the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center and the Coachella Valley Women’s Business Center, was named 2014’s Corporate Entrepreneur by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Inland Empire chapter.
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CAMEO White Paper: Download Do-It-Yourself Economic Growth: How Communities Can Cultivate Their Talent and Thrive. Read it. Use it as a resource. Share it. The Do-It-Yourself Economy is built on a foundation of small, locally-owned, diverse businesses. CAMEO’s white paper focuses on why we need a new approach to economic development, explains the reality of small business and self-employment labor market trends, and delineates some of the tools that local economic developers can use to create a sustainable future for their regions.

New Report: CFED released a new study – In Search of Solid Ground: Understanding the Financial Vulnerabilities of Microbusiness Owners. The report gathers insights from business owners, identifying their greatest challenges and informing the suite of solutions that might address them. The study sheds light on the many factors that contribute to or detract from microbusiness owner’ financial capability—a combination of knowledge, behaviors, and access and use of safe, appropriate financial products and services.

New Resource: Accion’s The Orange Book 2014 – What’s on the minds of America’s small business owners? The Orange Book offers a timely and insightful look at the current state of the economy through the lens of “everyday entrepreneurs” — individuals who own very small businesses with less than five employees.

Crowdfunding Primer: A new crowdfunding provision created in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act) allows businesses to sell shares of their company to a large number of small investors without the expense and reporting requirements associated with going public. Crowdfunding is already being used for charity fundraising and to provide seed money for projects that might provide a prize or reward to investors, such as early access to a music album or tickets to a charity event. But when the JOBS Act’s final provisions go into effect, retail crowdfunding, or the offer and sale of shares of private businesses to members of the general public (unaccredited investors), will also be permitted. Demystify crowdfunding with this primer.

Healthcare Webinars: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are committed to helping businesses navigate the changes and opportunities in health care through the webinar series What the Healthcare Law Means For Your California Small Business . It’s every two weeks in English and monthly in Spanish. The next ones are on May 7, 2014 at 10:00am and May 21, 2014 at 3:00pm respectively. Note the Small Business Health Option Program’s online enrollment function is on hold and will be back online in the fall. Businesses can still purchase insurance through the traditional paper process, working with your Certified agent or the SHOP Service Center.

Industry Conference: CCEDA is hosting its 25th Anniversary Conference on Thursday, May 8, 2014 from 9:00am-5:00pm at the Los Angeles Radisson Hotel @ Los Angeles Airport, 6225 W Century Boulevard. Join the discussion on trends, views of the field, financing resources, and organization diversification. Workshops include: Social Enterprise-Planning, Financing, and Management; New Market Tax Credits; and Project Structuring & Financing in Post Re-development Credit.

Industry Conference: BALLE hosts Prosperity for All from June 11-13, 2014 in Oakland. The conference will dive deep into the most energized issues in the Localist movement today. Join CAMEO and BALLE to explore the challenges, emerging trends, opportunities and ways to rebuild our economic system in six critical areas: Finance for Resilient Local Economies; Ecosystems for Community Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development for a New Economy; a Localist Policy Agenda; the New Food Economy; and the Future of Ownership. Early bird rates end May 12th. Contact Shufina for information on how to apply for a professional development scholarship.

Small Business Week: The SBA kicks off Small Business Week in San Francisco on May 12, followed by events in Kansas City, Boston and Washington, DC. They wrap up in the nation’s capital by honoring small businesses from across the country, culminating in the announcement of 2014’s National Small Business Person of the Year on May 15. In addition to the in-person events, the SBA will sponsor several webinars of interest to small businesses. Check out the full National Small Business Week conference schedule.

Communications Resource: If you don’t know about Aspiration, then check them out. They hold technology and communications workshops for non-profit at low to no-cost all around the state. Their next one is May 15, 2014 in Los Angeles – Nonprofit Workshop to Simplify Online Communications.