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

CAMEO’s Summer Plans Start in June

CAMEO’s got a busy summer planned. It kicks off with an enlightening and fun Annual Member Meeting in Sacramento on June 5-6; Claudia will be in Los Angeles on June 11 to be recognized for her work to bolster women’s entrepreneurship; we’ll be working bills through June; Claudia’s hosting a policy briefing for California legislators when she goes to DC for the AEO board meeting mid-July; at the end of July, we wrap up our annual survey – just to name a few.

In this week’s Must Know, more details on summer plans

  • CAMEO Annual Member Meeting – learn more
  • CAMEO Annual Survey
  • The Goodies: This week’s highlight includes the EILEEN FISHER grant program that seeks applicants from wholly women-owned businesses that combine the principles of social consciousness, sustainability, and innovation to create new businesses or invigorate existing ones. Deadline is May 31st, 2013.
  • Watch our video CAMEO Connects to illustrate the power of locally-grown small-businesses.

CAMEO Annual Member Meeting

CAMEO’s Annual Member Meeting is June 5-6 in Sacramento. Sign up for what’s going to be the best meeting yet!

We’re bringing in cutting edge research to show that self-employment is the labor market trend and discuss what it means for how you serve your clients. This research and economic reality is crucial proof that our field is where your funders should be investing their money.

After an inspiring and simulating afternoon, we head off to celebrate the field and the work that we do at our Third Annual Faces of Entrepreneurship Awards and member dinner. This is a staff favorite because we have so much fun with everyone together in one room. It’s what sets our event apart from other conferences.

Don’t forget to make your appointments with your legislators on June 6 after 10:30am. This session we’ve got several key bills to support and every vote will count, so we need your help. And never fear, before we head off to the Capitol, we will train you on what to say and how to best advocate.

And for our rural-serving members, don’t forget the Annual Rural Summit from 9:00am – 1:00pm on June 5th. We have two amazing innovators to share their strategies and kick off some serious discussion on the future of entrepreneurship programs in rural California.

Learn more about the agenda, hotel, parking and other logistics.

CAMEO Annual Survey

FIELD at the Aspen Institute has launched the 2013 U.S. Microenterprise Census! And CAMEO is partnering once again with FIELD for our annual survey. We can’t emphasize enough how critical this information is to our policy work on your behalf. So it is time to gather your data and fill out the census. Thanks to the bunch of you who got your data in early and took advantage of the free lunch incentive from CAMEO (in pic right – the Community Action Agency of Butte County was this year’s first organization to enjoy lunch on CAMEO). While the CAMEO lunch incentive deadline has passed, if you’re a Credit Builders Alliance member, you can win a free assessment from CBA staff and up to 3 hours of technical assistance to enhance your credit building outcomes (approximate value $500).

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, 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 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!

Stuff To Teach Your Clients: Check out this article that points out several trends that small business owners should be know about.

California Economic Forums: They began last month and are taking place all over the state. The goal is to identify local priorities for investing in people, infrastructure and innovation to prepare our state to compete in the 21st century global economy. Please participate if you can and represent our sector. Make sure you identify as a member of CAMEO and spread the message of micro (download the talking points).

Free Teleconference: Hear what’s coming for National Small Business Week on June 17-21, 2013 with Fred Baldassaro, the Assistant Adminstrator at the SBA. Register for the call on May 23 at 11:00am PT sponsored by Small Business Majority and CAMEO.

Free Webinar: (for your clients) – Inspired Marketing: How to Creatively and Consistently Communicate to Your Ideal Customers: Understand the benefits to sending consistent messages to your potential clients; design a compelling mission statement; illustrate and demonstrate your business value; and integrate your messaging into your marketing plan. Join Joy Taylor and JEDI on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 from 6:00-7:15pm. Learn more and register. This webinar is presented by JEDI in collaboration with Arcata EDC, CAMEO, North Coast SBDC and West Company.

Free Teleconference: The last Wednesday of each month, a representative from the White House holds Chamber Chatter with The White House to talk about what’s being done at the federal level for small business. The next one is on May 29 at 11:00am PT. Register for the call sponsored by Small Business Majority and CAMEO..

Grant Opportunity – (for your client): The EILEEN FISHER grant program seeks applicants from wholly women-owned businesses that combine the principles of social consciousness, sustainability, and innovation to create new businesses or invigorate existing ones. Deadline is May 31st, 2013.

Public Banking Conference 2013: Funding the New Economy will take place in San Rafael, California on June 2-4. They will explore one of the core foundations of successful economies around the world: a distributed network of public banks that operate in the public interest of each respective community. It starts off with a Conversation among Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone magazine), Birgitta Jonsdottir (Member of Icelandic Parliament), Ellen Brown (author of Web of Debt), and Gar Alperovitz.

Refugee Microenterprise Development Grant: The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has announced the availability of funds for the Refugee Microenterprise Development Project. ORR has supported microenterprise development projects since 1991 through the award of discretionary grants to a variety of public agencies, community economic development agencies, local mutual assistance associations, and voluntary agencies. Non-profits qualify. Applications are due June 10, 2013.

2013 Small Business Finance Forum: OFN hosts a CDFI conference focused on the small business sector on June 11-12, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. Remember CAMEO can offset some of the costs for this and other conferences. Contact Shufina English for more information.