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Thanks for Small Businesses! Shop Local

Register by Friday for Food, Glorious Food Biz! at the Los Angeles Federal Reserve on December 3. Learn more about the our day long information packed day focused on the all important food business. Be sure not to miss our two keynotes – Liza Braude-Glidden of Beanfields Chips and Evan Kleiman of KCRW’s ‘Good Food’.

And don’t forget to save the date for our Microlending Summit, January 9, 2013 in San Francisco. And now in today’s Must Know…

  • Shop Local!
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight: A big thanks to you for reading the Must Know! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Shop Local!

shift your shopping localThis Thanksgiving, there’s no better way to thank our microbusinesses than to promote the ‘Go Local’ movement. A few weeks ago, we launched a ‘Go Local’ op-ed campaign to draw attention to it. The Fresno Bee published our first op-ed “Buying local builds your community”, authored by board member Salam Nalia!

Several of you have said that you will write an op-ed. We need more participation! Not only will you be helping local businesses, you’ll get free PR for your org and a clip to send your funders. Please refer to the ‘Go Local for the Holidays’ Must Know. Please contact me for any questions or help.

I’m gathering a listing of your shop local guides for the 2013 Holiday Season. Send me yours and I’ll post it.

And if you want a good laugh, check out this PSA done by Kevin Bacon for Shift Your Shopping for Good.

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 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!

CAMEO in the News: Stacey Sanchez, our board president and senior loan officer for CDC Small Business Finance, discussed how micro-business impacts our economy and changes lives at KPCC’s Crawford Family Forum.

New Report: Along those same lines, AEO released a report about how microbusinesses are vital economic engines and they’re far bigger than they are credited.

CAMEO in the News: Recent pieces in the Huffington PostMicro-business is the backbone of the economy and Micro-business ownership can help close the inequality gap.

Member Kudos: The Merced Sun Star profiles UC Merced Small Business Development Center as ‘the best kept secret in town.’ (Spread the word!)

Virtual Conference: CrowdFunding World Summit takes place on the interwebs from December 3 -16, 2013. With seven tracks including Best Practices For Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses, it’s sure to be information packed.

Healthcare Webinars: Small Business Majority and the Small Business Administration are hosting a webinar series that will discuss the new healthcare law – the Affordable Care Act -– and what it means for California small businesses. They’re on December 3, 10, 17 in English and December 4, 18 in Spanish.

Farm Finance Expo: California FarmLink host’s their annual Farm Finance Expo on December 12, 2013 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, 3333 3rd Avenue, Sacramento. Panels will include lenders, farmers and trainers who will discuss farm operating, infrastructure and land loans; sources of capital; preparing loan applications; and building, maintaining and repairing credit. Register for the Farm Finance Expo.

Fellowship Opportunity: The BALLE Fellowship is North America’s only fellowship dedicated solely to advancing the local economy movement, and where other programs focus on individual social entrepreneurs trying to scale single enterprises, we focus on local economy connectors – people who each represent, convene, and influence communities of hundreds of community entrepreneurs. Deadline is December 15, 2013.

Funding Opportunity: The CDFI Fund announced the opening of its FY 2014 round of Financial and Technical Assistance Programs, anticipating up to $191 million in awards (subject to the passage of appropriations for FY 2014). The application deadline is midnight, December 23, 2013. Learn more about the CDFI FY 2014 Funding Round and download the application.