Jacqia Carter, Owner, The Carter Academy:
Good morning.

When I first got started there’s no one to tell you how to run a business or how to jump in this field. I didn’t know what a business plan was. Once I became a part of BLI, I realized the importance of actually running the numbers, how much your lease will be for the entire year, teacher salary, all of the ins and outs of what it will take to run a successful business.

Robyn Perlman, Chief Future Officer, Business and Leadership Institute for Early Learning:
Business Leadership Institute is a CEO school for owners and operators with very little or no formal business training.

Elke Bojes, District Branch Senior Manager, Wells Fargo:
Wells Fargo has supported BLI well over a decade. We were on the ground creating the curriculum.

Bojes:
This is not a traditional facilitation where I come up here and I say, ‘Let me show you how and this is what you do.’

Bojes:
The classes that are being offered take these participants through how to create a business plan, getting comfortable with financial literacy.

Carter:
Good job.

Jacia Carter:
I know how it feels to be an entrepreneur, to not have the support, and that’s what BLI provides.

Carter:
This is our infant classroom.

Carter:
BLI provides resources, they provide community.

Lyana Vazquez, Owner and Director, Best Memories Academy:
Which one is your favorite?

Vazquez:
I’m still involved with BLI as a mentor because I wanted to give back what I got from the program.

Teacher:
What letters make ‘at’?

Vazquez:
I was able to buy my property. I couldn’t imagine doing it before. I didn’t have the confidence. I didn’t have the knowledge. I didn’t have the support.

Perlman:
The partnership with Wells Fargo has been extremely important because we’ve been able to change the narrative from a small preschool in a low-income community to a thriving business.

Vazquez:
Give me five. Excellent. Wow.

Perlman:
Parents in the community have a safe, quality childcare program in which to leave their children and can participate fully in the workforce, thereby creating economic growth and stability in the communities that they live in.

Vazquez:
We have six classrooms. We serve children from the age of six weeks up to first grade, and we have two spaces for therapy services. Our system keeps our school at capacity constantly because that’s a system that you learn from BLI.

That’s how we span the community. We help create that foundation, that base that families and children needs to excel and succeed in life.