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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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Denise Gee Uzzelle came to the BCL of Texas Business Assistance Center with an idea for a new business. By the time she had completed last summer’s Microenterprise Bootcamp hosted by BCL, she had formed Starting Point Human Capital Advisors, LLC. Starting Point provides a full suite of HR services including recruiting, policy development and employee retention, scalable for businesses of any size. Thanks to her dedication and drive, she quickly secured a staffing contract with a multinational Fortune 100 corporation, and a little over a year later her business continues to grow.
How far would you go to grow your business? Would you drive nearly 400 miles twice a month for 6 months?
That’s exactly what Jazmin Jernigan of Aesthetic Innovations, LLC is doing. Jazmin’s business is a full service marketing firm that provides branding, web design, graphic design, and photography services all under one roof. She drives from Shreveport to Dallas twice a month to participate in Capital One’s Getting Down to Business education and mentoring program, which provides guidance on a series of business topics taught by industry experts. BCL of Texas is the facilitator for the 2015 course in Dallas.
Three new homeowners who worked with BCL through our NeighborhoodLIFT down payment assistance program may be surprised to find themselves neighbors in the same newly built cul-de-sac in Manor.
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.”
After Richard Starr was laid off from his job at American Airlines, he and his wife Theresa were determined to become entrepreneurs with their own business.
One of our early customers, BCL worked with Rudy Ruiz of Community Development Management, Inc. for an SBA 504 loan to help them grow their operations. Founded in 1979, Community Development Management is a consulting firm that works with communities across Central and South Texas for community development projects like public works, housing, disaster relief, parks and recreation, and economic development.
Being a social entrepreneur is a little like running a business and a non-profit at the same time, in that you’re focused on both the bottom line and your social mission. It’s a big vision, and requires a lot of work. Yet, if there’s any entrepreneur in Austin equipped for the job, it’s Fuerte Fitness owner Romy Parzick.
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