House Passes Small Business Relief Bill

 

The House passed a Small Business Relief Bill today that could have an impact on your business if it is approved by the Senate. According to a summary of the bill written by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), the bill contains a number of provisions that provide tax relief to small businesses, including:

· 100% exclusion of capital gains tax on small business stock acquired between March 15, 2010 and January 1, 2012

· providing tax write-offs for SBA-backed loans and government-backed loans that use real property as collateral

· increasing the amount a business can write-off for start-up expenditures

· decreasing reporting penalties from a flat fee to a proportion of income not reported

The bill will now go to the Senate. Do your senators know how the bill will impact your business?

More Capital in the Community - Call to Action!

Please join Women’s Initiative by contacting Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein to urge them to please sign on to the Menendez letter in support of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

CDFIs are important to the economic recovery in CA by financing businesses, families, and neighborhoods that are generally unable to access the capital they need from conventional lenders.

Please contact please contact Bridget (bridget_petruczok@boxer.senate.gov) in Senator Boxer's office and Ahmad (ahmad_thomas@feinstein.senate.gov) in Sentaor Feinstein's office to urge them to contact Jason Tuber (Jason_Tuber@menendez.senate.gov) in Menendez's office, by Thursday, April 1st.
Thank you for your support!

Women's Initiative graduate businesses featured in San Francisco magazine

Two Women's Initiative graduate businesses are featured in this month's San Francisco magazine article on the best sandwiches in the Bay Area. Not surprising to see Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich on the list, and great to see the torta la tesorito from La Casita Chilanga featured as well.

San Francisco Bay Area in “Double Trouble”

The Urban Institute launches MetroTrends - a new website providing socio-economic information on the nation’s metropolitan areas - with an analysis of areas hit hardest by job losses, falling home prices and both. According to the study, areas that experienced the greatest housing booms from 2000 to 2006 are now suffering the most. The San Francisco Bay Area is said to have been hit hardest by both job losses and falling home prices.

Is Health Care Reform Good for Women Entrepreneurs?

Health Policy Associate at the National Women’s Law Center(NWLC), Julia Kaye writes in Womenstake.org (the NWLC blog)that she believes the Health Care Reform Bill will give entrepreneurial women more freedom to start their own small business—without fear of trying to find insurance on their own. In fact, members of Women’s Initiative’s Graduate Leadership Council named access to affordable health care as one of the scariest things about leaving a dead end job to start a business.

While women’s rights organizations such as the NWLC celebrate the passing of the Health Care Reform Bill for prohibiting insurance companies from charging women higher premiums than men but they also warn that there is still work to be done to make health care accessible to all women and families. The NWLR urges all advocates of women’s health to tell your senators to vote no to any amendments on the improvement bill and pass the last part of health care reform.

Women’s Initiative for Self Employment supports SB 1084, California Economic Security Task Force

In partnership with Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Women’s Initiative for Self Employment supports SB 1084, California Economic Security Task Force, which would create a two-year, bipartisan Task Force that would be responsible for creating a unified plan for reducing poverty and increasing economic security among Californians. The Task Force would include members of the Legislature, Secretaries and Directors of state agencies, members of the public, and representatives of key stakeholder groups who must work together if we are to help Californians move toward economic security. Executive Directors in each region submitted letters of support on behalf of the organization.

Women’s Initiative wrote a letter of support for the Senate Bill 1084 because it is important to the organization and to the 20,000 women we have served in the San Francisco Bay Area to help achieve prosperity, safety, and well-being for families in our communities.

The combined effects of the recession, high unemployment, and the state budget crisis have resulted in our state’s poverty level growing to 12.8 % in recent years. California has a particularly high number of working families living in poverty: 89% of poor families have at least one household member who is employed. Adjusted to include the cost of living, San Francisco has a poverty rate of 19%. Food costs alone have increased 15% in the past five years.

SB 1084 will be heard before the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development on Monday, March 22, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 3191. Now, more than ever, we need to be smart about how we tackle poverty and increase economic security for California’s families. By working together and using our limited resources wisely, we can continue to be a state of prosperity, growth, and opportunity.

Women’s Initiative Partners with UCSF to Research Microenterprise Development and Community Health

Can microenterprise development improve community health?

Microenterprise development is widely recognized as a poverty alleviation and economic development strategy for low-income, minority and immigrant communities but little is known about impact of microenterprise development on the health and well-being of these communities. Women’s Initiative believes that that the best way to reduce health risks associated with poverty is to reduce poverty, starting with wives and mothers.

A review of the relationship between family and health published by the Journal of Marriage and the Family showed that women’s employment and her family’s socioeconomic status have been found to be key factors for her family’s physical and psychological health. According to a policy brief on health disparities among women published by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in November 2009, low-income women in California are four times more likely than women who are not low-income to report poor health and 41 percent of low-income women in California are uninsured. The Population Reference Bureau reported that children who live in poverty run a higher risk for health problems, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, substance abuse and behavioral problems. Children who grow up in impoverished neighborhoods are more likely to live in such areas as adults as well. An analysis done by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) on national US census data on poverty for 2008 showed that the number of women and children living in poverty and extreme poverty is growing while the number of women with health insurance is shrinking. For African-American women and Latinas, poverty rates are the highest while insurance rates are the lowest. The BBC reported that that despite medical advances, public health experts had found that the link between poverty and early death remains as strong as it was one century ago. Health disparities among low-income women, women-headed households and low-income communities are a serious public health problem in California.

Women’s Initiative is partnering with health policy research experts at the University of California, San Francisco to conduct a ground breaking pilot study on the relationship between microenterprise development and community health, especially that of mothers and their children. Together with the university partners, Women’s Initiative is seeking a small University Community Partnerships grant with the Tides Foundation and hopes to leverage funding for the pilot project for a more extensive research on the impact of microenterprise development on the health and well-being of low-income, minority and immigrant communities.

SBA Proposes Rule to Increase Federal Contracts to Women-Owned Businesses

While women-owned firms in this country employ 13.1 million people, just 2.7 percent of Federal Recovery Act contracts have been awarded to women-owned firms. And only 3.4 percent of all federal contracts are awarded to woman-owned companies, despite the federal government having a goal of awarding 5 percent of contracts to women-owned firms. .

The SBA has proposed a rule aimed at expanding federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. The proposed rule identifies 83 industries in which women-owned small businesses are under-represented in the federal contract marketplace. According to the SBA, the proposed rule is a “step forward in helping ensure greater access for women-owned small businesses in the federal marketplace.”

Women’s Initiative applauds this long-awaited program from the SBA. We also encourage you to award some contracts to woman-owned businesses. From hair stylists to housecleaners, from web designers to writers – Women’s Initiative graduates are ready to do business with you! To find a Women’s Initiative graduate, check out our Orange Pages directory.

Women's Initiative Supports Economic Security Task Force

  

In partnership with Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Women’s Initiative for Self Employment supports SB 1084, California Economic Security Task Force, which would create a two-year, bipartisan Task Force that would be responsible for creating a unified plan for reducing poverty and increasing economic security among Californians. The Task Force would include members of the Legislature, Secretaries and Directors of state agencies, members of the public, and representatives of key stakeholder groups who must work together if we are to help Californians move toward economic security. Executive Directors in each region submitted letters of support on behalf of the organization.

Women’s Initiative wrote a letter of support for the Senate Bill 1084 because it is important to the organization and to the 20,000 women we have served in the San Francisco Bay Area to help achieve prosperity, safety, and well-being for families in our communities.

The combined effects of the recession, high unemployment, and the state budget crisis have resulted in our state’s poverty level growing to 12.8 % in recent years. California has a particularly high number of working families living in poverty: 89% of poor families have at least one household member who is employed. Adjusted to include the cost of living, San Francisco has a poverty rate of 19%. Food costs alone have increased 15% in the past five years.

SB 1084 will be heard before the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on Monday, March 22, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 3191. Now, more than ever, we need to be smart about how we tackle poverty and increase economic security for California’s families. By working together and using our limited resources wisely, we can continue to be a state of prosperity, growth, and opportunity.