Startup assistance/grants/loans?

[JohnC]

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are in the process of starting a day care. I would like to ask day care owners what kind of assitance you received for opening your day care. Are there grants available now? How difficult is it to obtain a start up loan from the SBA for a day care?

We found a great location and while the lease terms seem reasonable, I guess we are a little worried about how quick we can enroll kids to help cover the monthly expenses. Not to mention at some point payroll.

Having a business loan or assitance from a grant would provide the cushion needed to help the business survive through that first year.

Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

[MarinaVanessa]

For the most part grants are hard to come by (related post http://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12074 ). There are some but you have to dig through thousands and thousands of grants to find one that you may be able to use and even then they are not specifically for business start-up. Grants usually are there for a specific reason.

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

For example:
Immunization Information Systems Capacity Building Grant funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Varies in grant award money but yearly about $700,000 which is devided up into whoever they choose. You have to make sure that all children are immunized at all times (which means that YOU have to make sure that all kids are current in their immunizations), go through specific training that they ask you to go to. It was unclear but from the information that I got it looked like you'd get grant money to pay for training on immunizations and maintaining records of immunizations and whatever was left you could keep and use for the daycare.

Which translates to: Grant money is mostly for training purposes and costs and you can keep any leftover money usually. Once you find a grant (you can go to Grant.gov) you write up a grant application. I would get help when doing this. Having a business plan helps too.

A loan from the SBA depends a lot on your current credit and is similar to applying for a loan at a bank. It is a good idea to have a good business plan when applying for a loan as well but I think getting a loan is an easier process than fishing for, finding, qualifying and applying for a grant lol. You can also call your local childcare resource and refferal agency and ask them if they have special loans or grants catered to daycares. They may be able to point you in the right direction as well as help you apply for one.