California Can Help the Unemployed Be Their Own Bosses

Guest Blogger: Heidi Pickman, Communications Director of CAMEO (California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity)

The federal government set aside $35 million for states to implement a Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) program and help unemployed become their own boss and start their own micro-business. California has the opportunity to apply for $5.3 million of that money from the U.S. Department of Labor to initiate, administer, and market a SEA program to help the unemployed who can start their own businesses.

Under the SEA program, unemployed workers will be able to receive or maintain their unemployment insurance benefits while they start their own small businesses – a full-time job in its own right – without having to look for other full-time work. Currently, in California this is not the case.

To get funds to operate SEA, the California legislature needs to pass a bill. California leaders have the opportunity to assist the unemployed to become self-employed, create jobs, and reduce the unemployment rolls – all at the same time.  CAMEO is working to make this a reality, but surprisingly there is opposition.  The one positive thing legislators can do right now to create jobs through self-employment is to initiate a Self-Employment Assistance Program (SEA).

“We initiated the Help Unemployed BYOB campaign, because California’s unemployment rate continues to remains high, higher than the national average,” said Claudia Viek, C.E.O. of CAMEO. “If the unemployed can’t find a job, they can create their own. California needs to apply for these federal funds and train the unemployed to become their own boss.”

The Help Unemployed BYOB-Be Their Own Boss petition campaign was launched to show Governor Brown and the state legislators that California wants this program.

California needs this program.  California has had double digit unemployment for more than three years and a persistent, long-term unemployment problem.  The percent of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) as a share of total unemployed in California rose from 19.9% in December 2005 to 44.5% in December 2010.  Increase in long-term unemployment has hit all demographic groups in California, but some populations experience more long-term unemployment than on average, including minorities, older workers, educated workers.

Existing companies are not creating enough jobs.

Self-employment must be part of any economic recovery plan for California.  Self-employment creates at least one job per start-up that is for the owner, and creates jobs for others over time.   Self-employment is a labor market trend; self-employment was more than 25% of wage and salary employment in 2009.  Pre-2000, self-employment grew at an average of 1.4% a year; post-2000, self-employment grew at an average of 3.5% a year and is projected to grow at a rate of 7.2% in the next five years.

Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment has understood the power of becoming your own boss for a long time.  CAMEO’s efforts will open up the workforce system to entrepreneurial training and allow more women to access WISE’s services.

Please support our efforts and sign the Be Your Own Boss petition, invite 10 or more friends to sign it. Spread the word with Facebook and Twitter.


Heidi Pickman is the Communications Director for CAMEO (California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity) the voice for micro-business in California. CAMEO works to grow a healthy, vibrant, thriving environment for all entrepreneurs and start-up businesses by advancing the work of our statewide member network – the over 160 organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to furthering the fortunes of 22,000  micro-businesses in California.

The Self-Employment Assistance Program

By Loren Diesi, Financial Services Summer Fellow

As a fellow at Women’s Initiative, I have had many opportunities to broaden my understanding of microenterprise. A few weeks ago I sat in on a webinar on the topic of the Self-Employment Assistance Program (SEA). Before attending the webinar, I had no clue what this program was about. I learned that the SEA is not currently implemented in the state of California, however it is currently helping a great deal of people in our northern neighbor, Oregon.

What is the Self-Employment Assistance Program?

In Oregon, the SEA is a program that is closely related to Unemployment Benefits. The majority of claimants that apply for this program are accepted, however this program is geared towards building microenterprise and encouraging self-employment. Instead of having to look for a job while receiving unemployment, claimants are expected to work towards starting their own business full-time. Within 30 days of applying for the program, participants must submit a business plan. During the 26 week program, if a claimant is able to earn income from their starting business, they will also still receive unemployment benefits from the government allowing them to have reliable income. Throughout the program, claimants are given guidance and support to help with any of their business needs.

This program became extremely popular during the height of the recession, and we can see why. If jobs are not available, then the next best thing is to create your own job. By encouraging claimants to work in their own business fulltime, this requires them to become more proactive in getting them back on their feet. The Department of Labor deemed the SEA effective, and was especially successful with people who had been laid off from their previous jobs, or who had already had an interest in creating their own business. Below we can see the direct results of the SEA program in Oregon:

A slide from the SEA webinar presented by Martin Burrows, Assistant Director, Business and Employment Services of Oregon Employment Department

Women’s Initiative is an amazing program geared towards low-income women; however we have limited resources and cannot reach out to everyone. Currently the SEA is not implemented in California, but organizations are working towards getting a budget for next year. According to the Department of Labor, states have until June 30 of 2013 to apply for funding for the SEA program. To read more about this, check out the Department of Labor website here. Although work is in progress to make this program accessible to California residents, many do not know that it exists. You can help make this possible by spreading the word about the Self-Employment Assistance program. 

Partner Spotlight: Exploring New Opportunities for Entrepreneurs at La Cocina’s Conference

By Kelly Baker, Regional Evaluation Associate, AmeriCorps VISTA
 
On the tail end of their wildly successful Street Food Festival, La Cocina hosted their 3rd Annual Food & Entrepreneurship Conference. Through Women's Initiative's partnership with La Cocina as members of the San Francisco Economic Development Alliance, I was lucky enough to attend the second day of the conference free of charge.

The day was packed with thematic panel discussions around food, technology, and entrepreneurship. In the morning I attended “How to Create Spaces for Successful Entrepreneurship.” The panelists included representatives from Bay Area farmers’ market associations, Josh Assink with Urban Village and Lulu Meyer with the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market, as well as Alec W. Bauer of KRBS, Jonny Price of Kiva, and Junette Sheen of CCEDA acted as moderator. During the discussion, panelists and attendees grappled with the issue of barriers to entry: lack of access to affordable kitchen space, discrepancies in health code enforcement, and funding.

For me, one of the most interesting pieces to come out of the discussion was a new program Kiva is launching, Kiva Zip. Earlier in the discussion representatives from the farmers’ markets emphasized the importance of bringing people closer to their food source, the coming together of producer and consumer. Kiva’s new program similarly aims to bridge the gap between lender and borrower. Lenders make small loans of at least $25 to a new venture, ultimately contributing to a loan made at 0% interest to the borrower (at higher risk). Price cited an example in which the borrowers often in turn became part of the customer base for their lenders, stopping by to see how things were progressing and supporting their investment. This program has great potential to foster local enterprise.

After a delicious Nepalese buffet lunch, there was a large panel discussion on Food & Technology, discussing new apps, websites, and social media strategies that food entrepreneurs can take advantage of. Participants then broke out into smaller discussion groups after the panel. I attended the session on “Using Technology to Foster Entrepreneurship in Communities.” In this session led by Joel A. Lacayo of Mission Asset Fund and Amanda Oborne of FoodHub, participants shared challenges and strategies for using technology. Many of us in the room represented nonprofits working to help entrepreneurs, so social media outreach and the digital divide were central issues in the conversation.

All in all, the conference was inspirational and informative. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with a variety of people, organizations, and entrepreneurs working toward innovative new solutions to problems of economic development and recovery.

Graduate Spotlight: Maricela Yee's Little Shop Artisan Box

By Amia Grashin, Summer Fellow

Maricela with her Gourmet Foodie Boxes

In 2011 Maricela Yee moved to the Bay Area from Hawaii. She always knew that she wanted to help individuals and better the community, but could not figure out what platform would work best for her. Prior to arriving in California she spent time working as a social worker and sold flowers on the streets of Honolulu, but these jobs did not truly fulfill her desire to be a part of a collective and artistic avenue of change. 

Leftovers and an attempt to preserve items from farmers markets sparked the initial idea for Little Shop Artisan Box. The spirit of Oakland inspired an idea in Maricela, and Women’s Initiative provided her the tools to turn that idea into a business.

Maricela creates Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)-style boxes of local, gourmet, artisan foods. She experienced the food of Bay Area artisans and wanted to help to share their talents with the community. Little Shop Artisan Box delivers hand picked, themed boxes to subscribers every month. The goal is to tell the stories of the artisans through their food. On the website customers can find stories about where the culinary creations come from. This business is the perfect mix of promoting local artisans, collaborating with people, and enjoying amazing food.  

Through this experience Maricela has discovered that she loves to empower people and now works to help her vendors grow in a sustainable, positive way. She has developed a business that celebrates each artisan and their craft, while staying local. Maricela is passionate about featuring other budding entrepreneurs, which grows their businesses along with her own. She brings the artisans on board in creating cohesive themes for the boxes. This creative collaboration is something that Maricela loves, and it is something that can be felt and tasted by the customers. 

Foodie Boxes: April Inspired by Spring Flowers; January Spice is Nice; February; Mothers' Day

She currently works with almost 40 local vendors and provides boxes to over 100 clients every month. Her business has grown so much in its first year that she has had to hire an intern to help her to expand effectively.

Maricela is always looking for way to reach new artisans and help them to build their businesses. She has found that Women’s Initiative can be a great tool in fostering their success. When speaking with Maricela about the success of her business she cant help but come back to the vital role that Women’s Initiative has played in providing her with important knowledge about becoming a successful business owner and providing her continued support as her business grows.

We at Women’s Initiative are extremely proud to have Maricela as part of our family and we look forward to her ongoing success.