BREAKING THROUGH

or loans to help providers get programs up and running.
Recruitment is a challenge for many new day care
providers as is developing a business plan and selling
their services to potential clients. Part of the problem is
that many don’t see themselves as entrepreneurs.
“They focus a lot on the program aspect and may fall
short on the business side,” says Cynthia Pearson, a coordinator
at the Center for Childcare Initiatives. “They
may not have thought through how to make a profit, or
whether they are being compensated adequately. They
don’t go into it thinking of it as a business, but as a service
they want to provide for the community.”
That’s why training programs drive home the idea
that home day care providers are very much entrepreneurs
running small businesses and need to be familiar
with all the financial, marketing, personnel and other
issues that go with running a business.
“The idea that you are in charge and in the driver’s
seat, that’s a paradigm change,” says Nancy Carin, executive
director of the Business Outreach Center. “We
make a big deal about that.”
The fastest growing sector in the industry is group
family day care—home day care programs that serve
between seven and 12 children—largely because rates
for children who are subsidized by the city are higher
than family day care rates and higher often than what
providers can charge on their own. For those with an
entrepreneurial bent, group family day care can be a lucrative
business, depending on the neighborhood and
the clientele. Providers can make upwards of $60,000 a
year and, in some cases, as much as six figures.
“Some have more than one site and as many as
three, four, five staff people and are generating significant
revenue,” says WHEDco’s Diana Perez. “Your marketability
and the quality of your program influence
how strong your earnings may be.”
Those who have significant income have typically
been in business for more than five years and have repeat
clients who come back with every new child in the
family. For most providers, though, it takes three to
five years before they see a profit, says Pearson.
Bernadette Lamboy is one provider who has been
able to grow her program. In 2004, after her job with
the FDNY was eliminated, she wanted to spend more
time with her son. So, instead of looking for work, she
took seven months of training at WHEDco and opened
a family day care business in her home on Southern
Boulevard in the Bronx. She started with ten children
and now has 25 and five employees. She also runs an
after-school program and a summer camp. Next on her
agenda is a program for kids with disabilities. Thinking
of herself as an entrepreneur hasn’t been a problem.
“I created a business out of nothing,” says Lamboy.
“And I’ve been very cautious with the income to make
sure I reinvested to have everything to offer these kids.”
Whether success stories like these will be replicated
is a question, however, since new regulations limit the
number of group family day care sites a provider can
operate. Providers are limited now to one site, although
existing multiple-site providers have been grandfathered.
For those who want to grow, it means opening
a center for as many as 60 kids, an undertaking that
requires significant capital.
Even for single-site providers, regulations can stifle
growth plans. Those who want to market to families
that receive city subsidies for childcare services, for example,
must join a network to get access to that population.
But the networks, which are run by nonprofit
organizations in the city, have a limited number of slots
and providers can wait years for an opening.
“If a network mother in my neighborhood comes
to my door, I can’t take her because I’m not in a network,”
says Regina Coles, who operates Star Academy
Prep Group in Brooklyn.
Providers also have to use ingenuity to buy necessary
supplies and equipment. Small grants of $250 are
available from the state, but providers already have to
be in business to qualify. Tameka Silva, who operates
a group family day care in Harlem, got her first grant
after she had been in business three years. Before that,
she received contributions from family members to buy
supplies, looked for deals at the 99 cent store and convinced
her son’s school to donate equipment it wasn’t
using or didn’t need.
Breaking Through 29