I was born in Jamaica, WI and migrated to New York with my mother in the 70’s. I went through junior high school, high school and then college in NYC. After working at the Federal Reserve Bank for 10 years as a manager’s secretary, I left to open a Christian School.
I later married a senior pastor and began traveling to various mission fields. My husband and I ran a school together and oversaw it for 28 years. When my husband passed away, I wanted to continue my personal vision in education.
Since my husband’s passing, I’ve had to start over. I’ve always focused on helping others and when I started my own school last year in Brooklyn, my community was in full support. My school is in a high need neighborhood in NYC, making it a particularly important community for me to support.
Now that I’ve successfully run this school on my own for a year, I am looking to expand. Last year, I found a building I wanted to rent, but did not have the funding to make it happen. With your support and that of my community, I hope to make my dream a reality!
Fire Tender Learning Center is a day care, day school and after-school program which a year ago was small. The interest in individualized education has grown since then and I am desperately in need of a larger facility.
My biggest challenge is to to be ready for the new school year. Because of my expertise in Education, I wanted to pursue one of the RFP’s as the Mayor’s inititive for Universal Pre-K programs. My customers are the parents of children enrolled in my day care, full-time day school and after-school program. While some children will come in through the Universal Pre-K programs initiative or day care subsidized by the Administration for Children’s Services, some parents will self-pay for their children to attend the Fire Tender Learning Center.
I started off with an after-school program, but now I am being asked to re-open a full-time day school as my individualized program has proven to be effective for children who are struggling with an open teaching setting. I am most proud of my individualized program as it addresses the child’s weaknesses and make them strengths.
My dream is to open more schools in high need areas throughout Brooklyn and continue to administer these schools.
This loan will allow me to move into the building for my full-time day school. The loan will go toward:
– $5,400 for 2 months rent ($2,700 per month)
– $2,700 for the security deposit
– $1,900 for the agency fee
Once I am able to secure funding and begin teaching in the new facility, I will be able to qualify and apply for a grant to participate as a provider in the Mayor’s initiative for Universal Preschools run by community based organizations (CBEC’s).
My zip code is a high need area on the Mayor’s census. Once I have a marketable facility, I can be considered a definite candidate to be awarded a grant.