GMEN’s advocacy efforts have focused on three fronts:
Issue Papers
Developing issue papers on the benefits of self-employment for specified constituencies: TANF, unemployed, and disabled.
Educational Sessions
Providing education sessions on the need for:
- Line-item funding for microenterprise development support, like other small business development support
- Funding for individual development accounts (IDAs) for small business equity capital
- Implementation of the federal self-employment assistance (SEA) provision in the state Department of Labor
Annual Awards
Each year GMEN also recognizes those in the industry that serve as role models:
- Founders’ Award: This award recognizes an individual that has made an outstanding contribution to GMEN. Recipient can not be a member of the GMEN board of directors.
- Builder Award: This award recognizes organizations that have contributed significantly to increasing the capacity of GMEN.
- Program Innovation Awards - Technology and Program Design: These two awards acknowledge the most unique and creative innovations taking place in the microenterprise development field and recognize the contributing GMEN member.
- Celebrating Rural Microenterprise Development Award: This award recognizes rural microenterprise development organizations that have made significant progress in one or more of the following: increase in scale, increase in loans made, improvement in loan performance, or innovations in access to markets.
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award: This award recognizes a successful entrepreneur who is a graduate of a GMEN member organization.
