CAMEO

California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity

Federal Issues

Find out which federal agencies fund micro-business development.

2017 Federal Legislative Priorities for Micro-business Development

CAMEO’s hard work in Washington, advocating for increases in the programs that we care about, paid off in 2016. We are pleased to report that funding levels that we advocated for were either exceeded (Women’s Business Centers!) or met in full. We worked really hard to increase the budget of these programs in the FY2017 Budget, but as you may know politics got in the way and Congress passed a Continuing Resolution.  That means that FY2016 budget numbers will be in place until April 2017.

FY2016 Budget numbers

  • SBA PRIME — $5 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 — $17 Million (13% increase over FY15)
  • SBA SBDC Program — $117 Million (1.7% increase overFY15)
  • CDFI Fund — $233.5 Million (1.2% increase over FY15)
  • USDA RBDG — $24 Million (same as FY15 – RBEG and RBOG were combined in FY2014 Farm Bill into the Rural Business Development Grant)
  • USDA RMAP — $ 3 Million ($0 was allocated in FY2015, however, the RMAP program receives $3 Million in mandatory funding annually through FY2018.)

Priorities for advocacy at the federal level include:

  • Establish Core Performance Measures for entrepreneurship training in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) to ensure access to funds for self-employment training and business technical assistance.
  • Work to maintain and expand SBA funding for technical assistance.
  • Work to expand SBA guarantees for non-bank CDFIs which would greatly increase capacity of CDFIs who serve micro-business.
  • Continually press for California CDFIs to get a fair share of funding through the CDFI Fund; help CAMEO members become more competitive for awards.
  • Promote technical assistance services as a key risk mitigator in microlending among all regulators and SBA.
  • Promote microbusiness development as a key strategy for economic success in California among all Senate and Congressional representatives.
  • Track and monitor priority policy issues relevant to micro-business development to ensure that CAMEO and its members are fully aware of all federal advocacy opportunities.
  • Track USDA’s new Rural Micro Enterprise Assistance Program to ensure California receives its fair share.

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