Sam’s Club Giving Program Awards $500,000 Grant to First Children’s Finance to Help Increase & Sustain High-Quality Child...
July 23 2014 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
New Pilot Programs in Minnesota and Iowa Will
Improve Business Operations for Women-Owned Child Care Programs
The Sam’s Club Giving Program today announced a $500,000 grant
to First Children’s Finance (FCF) to provide finance and management
assistance to child care businesses in low income communities. The
grant will allow FCF to pilot a technical assistance program aiming
to improve overall business operations for child care business
owners. Almost 90 percent of FCF clients are child care businesses
operated by women, furthering Sam’s Club commitment to supporting
women-owned small business growth and prosperity.
The pilot programs launch this month in Minnesota and Iowa
through the following FCF initiatives:
- Greater Than MN Project focused
on serving child care businesses in Southern and Northwestern
Minnesota.
- Guided Growth Project serving
Western Iowa.
The grant comes at a critical time for child care businesses, as
the demand for child care provided outside of the home is on the
rise. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, such demand is due to
the increase in the number of working women, changes in family
structure and the desire to provide young children with educational
opportunities. The Sam’s Club Giving Program grant will help meet
this demand in lower income communities and provide an engine for
regional economic growth.
The $500,000 grant will enable FCF to help children, families
and communities thrive by increasing the availability,
affordability and quality of early care and education. More
specifically the grant will:
- Launch four programs in communities
across Minnesota and Iowa to help improve business knowledge and
skills
- Improve business operations in 24 child
care programs through education, technical assistance and resource
development
- Award $250,000 in loans ranging from
$14,000 to $25,000 each to 12 child care businesses for compliance
and quality improvements which could include hiring workers with
early childhood expertise
- Create or preserve 40 new quality child
care slots
“The lack of access to capital and management assistance
continues to be a challenge for these women-owned businesses,” said
Jerry Cutts, CEO at First Children’s Finance. “We hope to help
businesses overcome these challenges by making operations more
efficient and integrated, placing a higher focus on measurable
business results, and developing a framework that can be easily
replicated by other communities.”
The long-term results of the pilot programs will shape strategy
for the eventual establishment of the FCF National Child Care
Technical Assistance Center, a national program to help states and
communities expand and sustain quality child care.
“When Sam’s Club opened in 1983, the very first member to sign
up, Kathy Cronemiller of Midwest City, OK, owned a day care
business. Like Kathy, most child care owners come to the industry
out of a passion to help children, and then find themselves leading
a highly regulated and complex business with razor thin profit
margins of three to five percent,” said Susan Koehler, Senior
Manager of Community Involvement, Sam’s Club. “Sam’s Club is
pleased to support First Children’s Finance to give business owners
like Kathy the resources, tools and confidence to streamline their
operations and provide the best possible child care to their
communities.”
In the latest Sam’s Club/Gallup Microbusiness Tracker, less than
three percent of women business owners reported funding their
businesses through grants and government loans, more commonly
leveraging personal savings (61%) and credit cards (40.1%) to stay
afloat. Through this grant, Sam’s Club and First Children’s Finance
can provide more small business owners with increased access to
training, resources and capital they need to grow and sustain
successful enterprises.
About Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club, the nation’s eighth largest retailer and a
leading U.S. membership club, offers savings and surprises to
millions of members in 640 U.S. club locations and at SamsClub.com.
The Sam’s Club Giving Program, established by the Walmart
Foundation in 2008, is dedicated to micro- and small business
prosperity with goals increase access to responsible training,
education and capital for small business owners. For more
information on national or local giving, visit
SamsClub.com/giving.
About First Children’s
Finance
First Children’s Finance, a national nonprofit, provides
financial and business-development assistance to high-quality
childcare businesses serving low- and moderate-income families. A
certified Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), First
Children’s Finance currently lends in ten states, including Iowa,
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Based in Minneapolis, First
Children’s Finance also has regional offices in Iowa and Michigan.
For more information visit www.firstchildrensfinance.org or call us
toll-free at (866) 562-6801.
Sam’s ClubCarrie Foster Moore,
800-331-0085SamsClub.com/newsroom
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