At this year’s AEO annual meeting, I will be presenting a workshop on how microenterprise development professionals can teach their clients to advocate on behalf of their businesses with their elected representatives.

The need is very real. Most microbusiness owners assume they are powerless to influence public policy because they have neither the contacts nor the cash to make themselves heard.

What they don’t realize is that most lawmakers want to do the right thing. And, while they may not have contact, those can be acquired. They may not have cash but they do have something equally valuable: votes.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the national trade organization for the microenterprise development industry. Microenterprise development organizations specialize in helping low income aspiring microbusiness owners to secure the funding and acquire the skills to run their own firms.

I love what they do. I love the whole “teach a man to fish” poverty alleviation strategy, for so many reasons that I couldn’t list them all here. Microenterprise development is a win-win-win-win proposition that deserves a lot more support than it gets.

The Summit will take place in Arlington, VA this year, from May 16th to the 19th. For more information on the Summit, visit the AEO web site.