- President Obama’s FY2016 Budget
- CA AB 184 for SBDCs and WBCs
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes a call-out for your client success stories. We’d love to feature your clients’ businesses Please make sure we know about your clients and the good work they do. Help us tell the story of microbusiness.
- Renew your membership or join our dynamic network of organizations and individuals by close of business today, February 5, 2015 to be included in our member directory.
President Obama’s FY2016 Budget
President Obama’s FY2016 Budget Request was released on Monday to the tune of $4 trillion. The Washington Post has a nice breakdown of each agency’s budget. Here’s how micro-related budgets play out.
- SBA PRIME — $0 Million ($5 million allocated for FY15)
- SBA Micro Lending — $35 Million (40% increase over FY15)
- SBA Micro TA — $25 Million (11% increase over FY15)
- SBA WBC Program — $16 Million (7% increase over FY15)
- SBA SBDC Program — $115 Million (same as FY15)
- SBA Veteran Programs — $11.45 Million (9% increase over FY15)
- CDFI Fund — $233.5 Million (1.2% increase over FY15)
- USDA RBDG — $30 Million (25% increase over FY15 – RBEG and RBOG were combined in FY2014 Farm Bill into the Rural Business Development Grant)
- USDA RMAP — $ 4.65 Million ($0 was allocated in FY2015, however, the RMAP program receives $3 Million in mandatory funding annually through FY2018.)
This is the first step in the budget process; the the earliest the budget will be completed is in the summer (ha, ha). For the most part, the budget looks good. Rest assured, as in years past, CAMEO will be doing everything in our power to make sure that Congress funds the PRIME program. To kick off our advocacy efforts in DC, Claudia will visit DC in about a month.
For a more detailed look at each micro-funding agency’s FY2016 proposed budget, please click on one of the following: Small Business Administration, Treasury, US DOL, and USDA.
CA AB 184 for SBDCs and WBCs
We’re excited to announce the introduction of AB-184 (E. Garcia) Small Business Technical Assistance Act of 2015! Basically, it will establish GoBiz’s Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank as the state liaison with the ‘federal business technical assistance centers’, which include SBDCs, WBCs, VBOCs, SCORE and PTACs. The bill would recognize these federal programs and authorize any state agency to contract with them! The bill would also make it possibly for the California legislature to make appropriations for the centers. Note that appropriations is not the subject of this bill. Download an AB 184 Fact Sheet. Assemblymember Garcia’s office says:
For the first time in over a decade, California will have a permanent link to key federal small business assistance centers including those that focus on services to women, veterans, and prospective government contractors, as well as all service offices of the Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs).
CAMEO is excited to support this bill. We’ve submitted our letter of support and hope that you will too. Here’s a AB 184 Letter of Support template to use. Modify it as necessary, then fax it to: (916) 319-2156 and email me a copy.
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!
Small Business California survey: Our friends at Small Business California take an annual pulse of small businesses in California. Let microbusinesses be heard! Please send to your clients and small business owners. The survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete. The results will be sent to every legislator in the state, Governor Jerry Brown, and the media.
Take Action: Take the ‘Proud to be an American Business Pledge’ – a campaign by our friends as the American Sustainable Business Council and Main Street Alliance.
As a business leader, I am proud to be the owner of an American business. I pledge not to abandon my community and my country by moving my business registration offshore to reduce my tax bill.
My business depends on good schools, reliable public infrastructure, uniform rules that ensure we all compete on a level playing field, standards that guarantee my products are safe, and courts that protect my contracts and intellectual property.
My taxes help pay for the public investments and services that every business in America depends on.
I am proud to pay my fair share to strengthen our economy and support America.
CFED Scorecards: California ranked 20th overall for the business and jobs category and 10th in microbusiness ownership. If we were performing as well as the best performing state (Florida) , then there would be 683,938 more workers owning microbusinesses! Download a complete California profile with a focus on microbusiness.
Funding Opportunity: The Walmart Foundation’s 2015 State Giving cycle is now open.
Healthcare Webinars: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are helping businesses navigate 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 February 5 and 12, 2015 at 11:00am and February 10, 2015 at 1:00pm 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. Also Small Business California helped create a new Spanish-language website to help Latino business owners and employees learn how to comply with the health care law.
For Your Clients: The U.S. Small Business Administration Los Angeles District Office has launched the registration for its 2015 Emerging Leaders executive-level training series for Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Nationally, the Emerging Leaders Program has trained more than 2,400 promising small business owners in underserved communities, and its impact continues to expand in helping small businesses to grow and create jobs. Participant recruitment begins in February through SBA’s local district offices and classes typically begin in April. Learn more.
For Your Clients: Now through February 6, 2015, businesses can enter the American Small Business Championship by sharing your story. Two small businesses per state will win training from SCORE, a $1,000 Sam’s Club Gift Card, publicity and more. Learn more about the American Small Business Championship.
For Your Clients: Our colleagues at ASBC invite you/your clients to attend Venture Summit West, the premier venture gathering in Silicon Valley. Come meet, interact and network with more than 500 VCs, Corporate VCs, angel investors, investment bankers and CEOs of early stage and emerging growth companies on February 10-11, 2015 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
2015 CDFI Coalition Institute: Registration is open for the Institute on February 24-25th in Washington, DC. The tentative agenda includes a discussion of the likely approaches of the new Congress to housing and community economic development programs, including tax expenditure programs like the LIHTC and NMTC.
Funding Opportunity: The CDFI Fund is providing an additional 45-day application submission window for any eligible organization that did not submit a SECA application by the original application deadline of November 24, 2014. Any new SECA applicant can also submit a HFFI application by following the instructions in the application guidance materials, which can be found on the CDFI Program pages of the CDFI Fund’s website and through Grants.gov. New SECA applicants must submit their applications through Grants.gov by 11:59 PM EST on March 5, 2015.
Funding Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) today announced the next funding round for CED and CED-HFFI grants. These are extremely competitive grants that supports social enterprises that create jobs for low-income individuals and require a considerable amount of pre-planning. Friedman Associates will partner with a limited number of CDCs and CDFIs to write successful proposals. The grant deadlines are April 24, 2015.