Patty’s Childcare Centers Fill a Growing Need
- published: 2024/05/16
- contact: NBDC Communications - Nebraska Business Development Center
- phone: 402.554.6256
- email: kjefferson@unomaha.edu
- search keywords:
- NBDC
- Nebraska Childcare
- Patty's Childcare
Omaha, Nebraska – This story was originally published in the Nebraska Business Development Center 2023 Annual Report.
Gloria Patricia Avalos has taken a home-based daycare business and grown it into two locations with a third expected to open by mid-2024, earning her and her company, Patty’s Childcare Center Inc., the honor of being selected as the 2023 Champion of Small Business from NBDC.
Avalos began her business in 2016, caring for 10 children in her home. It didn’t take long for her to realize the growing demand for reliable, quality child care, and she set out on a mission to help fulfill that need.
“Gloria knew how hard‐working people were facing the impact of this daycare shortage and how it was putting them at risk of losing their jobs,” says Consultant Alan Martinez, who serves businesses through the Nebraska Small Business Development Center program of the NBDC. “This is why she embarked on a journey to create a solution.”
While the mother of five knew how to care for children, Avalos was unfamiliar with the requirements of beginning and running a business. Undeterred by challenges, Avalos, who is bilingual in Spanish and English and whose business serves Spanish-speaking families, worked with Martinez, one of several bilingual consultants at the NBDC. He, with the help of others, helped Avalos develop a business plan and financial projections, technical assistance, and insight into benchmarking and marketing strategies.
“Gloria also joined the Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) program, which is facilitated by different resource partners including the NBDC,” Martinez says. “The program offers access to educational presentations and individualized technical assistance. She obtained a thorough review of her financial projections, ensuring she could pursue her expansion plans with confidence and foresight.”
Gloria knew how hard‐working people were facing the impact of this daycare shortage and how it was putting them at risk of losing their jobs...This is why she embarked on a journey to create a solution.
Alejandra Lopez, operations manager for Patty’s Childcare Centers, says Avalos had to overcome many challenges to open her first center. “She was a mother who was trying to save money and had limited assets,” Lopez says. “The Nebraska Enterprise Fund gave her the opportunity to open her first childcare center.”
In 2018, Avalos launched Patty’s Childcare Center in Papillion, a facility with a capacity for 100 children.
The success of her first childcare center motivated her to expand, and in May 2019, Avalos opened a second childcare center, also with space for 100 children, along South 13th Street in Omaha.
She will open a third childcare center, in a separate building beside the South 13th Street location, in May or June 2024. This center will be open 24 hours, seven days a week, have the space for 200 children and will create more than 60 jobs, in addition to the 40 people she currently employs.
“This is a growing community with many businesses and industries that have overnight shifts,” Avalos says. “People want to take these jobs but have very few choices for daycare during those hours.”
Through a desire to expand her services, Avalos and several of her team members have received training in the Pyramid Model through the Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties. The Pyramid Model is a framework of evidence-based practices for promoting young children’s healthy social and emotional development. Avalos says her goals include offering parenting classes and becoming certified to work with autistic children.
America’s SBDC, which operates in every state, is the largest matching grant-funded program of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Nebraska SBDC program provides confidential consulting services to entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to start and grow their enterprises or to transition companies to the next generation of ownership. Most of these services are available at no cost.
“The NBDC’s bilingual consultants enable us to serve additional Nebraskans and underserved communities for small business development,” says Tony Schultz, State Director of the Nebraska SBDC. “Anytime we can connect to entrepreneurs to support their business creation or expansion, it creates a ripple effect in the communities, resulting in job creation and wealth building.”
Schultz says the program helps entrepreneurs and small business owners in several ways, from the development of business plans, to creating a three-year financial projection model, to market research that includes benchmarking financials as compared to peers.
Through workshops, community outreach, and events such as the annual Latino Small Business Conference each summer, the NBDC and its consultants are raising awareness and easing access to those resources, Schultz says.
Avalos’ dedication to the community extends to a real estate company she owns, GPA Properties, LLC, and its support in developing the South Omaha Global Market, a community development project that will serve as an incubator for local entrepreneurs.
Martinez lauds Avalos for her persistence, dedication to the community and her vision. “She is a testament to hard work and the successful pursuit of a dream,” he says.
Avalos says she is happy with the services she has received from the NBDC, “and to be able to do it all in Spanish.” She says being named Champion of Small Business is an honor, “and recognition of coming so far in such a small amount of time.”