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Seeing our clients achieve key milestones is what drives our work at BCL of Texas. From startups that have expanded to multi-employee businesses to families buying their first homes, our success all comes down to you.
Just a few weeks in, it’s easy to see the new Counter Cafe location is going to be a hit.
“We have some regulars who come in twice a day,” says owner Debbie Davis. “This is a place where strangers talk to strangers. How many places can you go where that happens?”
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BCL is known for our small business lending programs, but did you know we also work with partners like city and local governments to help them reach small businesses for grants like covid-19 relief packages? Since the start of the pandemic, we have distributed over $11.5 million in grant relief funding to over 300 businesses.
There are many different kinds of business owners out there. There’s the salesman, the organizer, the independent do-it-yourselfer, and more. But the successful ones? They build a team that can wear all the hats. Just ask Jason Herrera, owner of ClearVue Networks, LLC, an information technology (IT) firm that in just the past five months has grown from 5 to 13 employees, a number which is likely to double before the end of the year.
With help from BCL of Texas, Balinder Singh and his partners used the SBA 504 Loan program to purchase a historic building at the corner of 15th and Lavaca in downtown Austin for their new location. Word immediately spread of the one-of-a-kind dining experience and their mouth-watering Indian cuisine, and since then the profitable restaurateurs have opened a chain of quick service restaurants in the area and have created dozens of jobs in central Texas.
Two unexpected neighbors on South Congress hit it off recently, rekindling a relationship that was started 8 years ago. Evan Streusand first connected with BCL of Texas for small business coaching through the City of Austin BizAid program when his business was in its beginning stage.
Adrian Paredes, owner of the Austin-based Tamale Addiction, was helped with two loans from the BCL Business Growth Fund. From pork pastor with pineapple and onions to vegan nopalitos and sweet guava tamales, Paredes has been able to learn from his customers and successfully diversify his product to meet new market trends.
BCL loan customer Juan Gonzalez and his wife, Monica, have every reason to celebrate. Not only are they expanding the scope of their business, but this week they are becoming American citizens after becoming permanent residents in 2009. “We’re very proud,” Gonzalez said.
Ruth and Arnold Guerra were born and raised in Gonzales, Texas, where they have opened hotels, restaurants, and built homes to meet their community’s needs. “We started with nothing,” Ruth said. Now, they have built over 100 homes in their community of 7,000 people.
I visited the Guerras and we drove around the town, as Ruth pointed out both homes she and her husband had worked on, as well as other neighborhoods of older homes in states of disrepair. Gonzales has not had new home construction in a long time. “Big builders are not going to come into this town,” Ruth said. In a previous subdivision, a builder constructed about 5 homes and then left town, the work unfinished. We drove past a 17-home affordable subdivision of 3-bedroom homes the Guerras built in 2009.
Now, they are building Angel Oaks, a 6-home development for median income families, featuring 3-bedroom ranch-style homes with yards. A longtime customer of BCL, having worked with us in the past for an SBA 504 loan, the Guerra family is now working with BCL’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Texas Community Builders for our new pre-development loan product.
The demand for median-priced new housing in Gonzales is apparent, as five of the Angel Oaks homes have already been purchased, just as groundbreaking has barely begun. Most of the buyers are people of color, and all are first-time homeowners. “People are getting out of renting and into their first homes,” Ruth said.
And as with their hotels, their construction business is a family venture. They’ve taught their two daughters skills in construction, management, and project administration. “In the big city, you get a job and you learn one thing,” Ruth said. She said her daughters are now prepared with a wide range of skills to take on all kinds of jobs.
“I’m really glad that Texas Community Builders is investing in small developers,” Ruth said. “I appreciate that they saw that we have projects that will benefit individuals that probably never would have been able to buy a home. Without Texas Community Builders, we would not have been able to do this project.”
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