It’s been about 20 years since Los Angeles native Yolanda Duckett first opened Duckett Kidz Care Inc.
Since then, she and a small group of employees have operated the business in her South Los Angeles home seven days a week, 23 hours a day, with the exception of major holidays.
“I have the capacity to handle 14 children at one time, but because of the nature of the child care business not everyone arrives at the same time and the days vary,” said Duckett.
The business has continued to grow, leading Duckett to consider expanding. The main thing stopping her? She wasn’t sure how to finance the endeavor.
Then last year she learned about the Small Business Administration’s 504 Loan Program, which provides long-term fixed-rate financing to borrowers who own for-profit companies and want to purchase real estate, equipment or improve existing facilities in order to grow or create jobs.
Loans are generally capped at $5 million.
The program features a unique 50-40-10 structure in which the borrower is required to contribute only 10%, with half of the financing package provided by a bank or another lending entity and the remaining portion facilitated by an SBA community-based partner known as a Certified Development Company.
Duckett obtained her loan through CDC Small Business Finance, a mission-driven nonprofit lender that is one of several organizations that are part of the Momentus Capital brand.
Mission-based lenders are committed to assisting borrowers who traditionally would not have access to loans.
She has since purchased a property on East Compton Boulevard in Compton and anticipates opening her second location at the end of March.
“Without this loan, I could not have expanded,” said Duckett. “Traditional commercial loans require about 25-35% down and that would have meant I would not have had enough to buy equipment and renovate the property.”
She expects to hire at least 10 full- and part-time employees to staff the new location.
