Over two decades ago, Ashika Serhal started Ayob Family Childcare out of her home to serve families in her Corona community in Riverside County, California, filling a critical need for quality, affordable child care. In the years since, her licensed family early care and education (ECE) facility has continued to grow stronger, serving up to 14 children ages 0 to 12 years old through a structured program that integrates Montessori principles into daily activities and fosters independence, curiosity and a love of learning. Many of the children in their care have been with the program since infancy, and siblings often enroll together, creating a warm, family-like environment.
Like many other in-home providers, Ashika wanted to grow her small business but initially struggled to secure capital from traditional lenders. “The process was long, the interest rates were high and the loan terms simply didn’t make sense for my business,” Ashika recalled. This was in stark contrast to Family Child Care (FCC) Capital Access, which “made everything quick and straightforward — I was approved by Ascendus in just five days.”
FCC Capital Access initiative emerged out of a partnership among Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and two peer CDFIs focused on small business lending, Ascendus and Working Solutions CDFI. The program aims to provide critically needed support specifically to licensed, home-based child care providers. In Ashika’s case, Ascendus provided the small-business loan.
In-home child care providers are the oft-overlooked backbones of local economies, providing essential access to affordable, high-quality care that enables parents to keep their jobs and earn income to support their families. However, in states like California – where over one-quarter of the country’s licensed FCC providers are located – there is a glaring lack of financial resources and technical assistance for these small businesses as they look to build their capacity and expand their offerings to families.
For entrepreneurs like Ashika looking to grow their businesses through health-and-safety repairs, license upgrades, or working capital and professional development, capital is offered in the form of three- to five-year, fixed-rate loans of up to $100,000. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, through the Mastercard Strive small business program, is providing philanthropic support for program design and the creation of a data-sharing plan to best measure impacts, establishing a scalable model that can be applied to other U.S. geographies via similar strategic partnerships.
“With the funds, I replaced aging inventory through purchasing new furniture, tables, chairs and educational toys. I was also able to bring in a math and science company to deliver hands-on STEM activities for the children every Friday,” Ashika explained, adding that “these additions allow me to compete with traditional after-school programs, attract more families and provide activities that parents in my community often cannot afford on their own.”
At current funding levels, the initiative expects to deploy $5.5 million in catalytic capital to in-home providers throughout California, though the total need in undercapitalized communities is far higher. Home-based providers like Ashika frequently struggle to access mainstream financial products, despite a keen interest in business-capacity development and growth. For the few who can access the system, the financial tools available are often not optimized for the child care sector, let alone tailored to meet the unique needs of home-based providers.
Now with the support of FCC Capital Access, Ashika is well positioned to achieve fiscal stability, expand and sustain her small business, and build her own family’s long-term wealth.
“The loan not only stabilized my home-based program but allowed me to grow and dream bigger. My long-term goal is to lease and operate a center-based program,” Ashika confided, saying that because of FCC Capital Access “I feel more confident that this dream is within reach.”
Family Child Care (FCC) Capital Access “made everything quick and straightforward — I was approved in just five days.”