SBDC @ San Juan College
2016 Star Client
In 2007, a door closed in Crystal Jacquez-Aguilar’s life which resulted in her and her children living with her grandmother. To support herself and her children she began babysitting a child in her grandmother’s home. Within two months, she was caring for six children. Four months later the house across the street came up for sale. Purchasing the house with owner financing, she was able to become licensed to care for up to 12 children and Love the Children Learning Center was born. Within a month, she was at capacity. Three years later, in 2011, she took the next step of moving into a facility and formally becoming a full-fledged day care center tending 42 children. Today, with two facilities, Love the Children Learning Center educates, loves, and cares for 80 children.
The waiting list attests to the quality of care the staff provides. Parents continue to find their way to Love the Children Learning Center because of the high referral rate and special care of the children. Incorporating Christian values, the Center teams with parents to assist in raising and forming kind, strong and loving children. They share parenting tips with new parents, hire single moms in need of a job and provide party foods to families who cannot afford to have birthday parties. They foster community and share happy and sad life experiences together.
Crystal regularly refers other aspiring entrepreneurs to the Small Business Development Center telling them about when she first came to the SBDC at San Juan College.
“I was a single mom. I could not afford to pay for help. Fortunately, the SBDC at SJC guided me through all the steps. Every time I have grown I have relied on the SBDC-SJC to provide guidance, while giving me the steering wheel to get where I needed to go. They didn’t do it for me, but they showed me the way,” Jacquez-Aguilar said.
Many things have changed since Crystal first approached the SBDC at SJC. She is now married and acquired a bakery, in addition to the day care. In the near term, she plans on utilizing the bakery services to provide lunch and snacks to birthday parties at Love the Children Learning Center.
“I was a single mom. I could not afford to pay for help. Fortunately, the SBDC at SJC guided me through all the steps. Every time I have grown I have relied on the SBDC-SJC to provide guidance, while giving me the steering wheel to get where I needed to go. They didn’t do it for me, but they showed me the way,”
-Crystal Jacquez-Aguilar, Owner, Love the Children Learning Center, Bloomfield, New Mexico