Sunshine Early Care and Education Center | Application Preview
Sunshine Early Care and Education Center is seeking government grants to address urgent needs for their facility. The requested funding of $100,000 will cover three main projects:
1. **Roof Replacement**: The existing roof has significant damage, which has been an ongoing issue since before Sunshine Early Care purchased the building in 2019. Unfortunately, insurance will not cover the costs due to the timing of the damage. The total cost for replacing the roof is $30,000.
2. **Moving Playground Fence**: As required by the City of Columbia, the playground fence needs to be relocated one foot away from the sidewalk along the property’s west side. This adjustment also involves relocating a Missouri Native and Edible Butterfly garden. The estimated cost for this project is $10,000.
3. **Improved Trash Pickup Area**: The center currently faces logistical challenges with moving a heavy dumpster through the playground, posing safety risks to both staff and children. The solution is to create a dedicated driveway for trash collection, which includes gates for staff and waste collectors. This project is expected to cost $60,000.
Overall, the combined costs for these projects total $100,000, which are also time-sensitive due to city regulations.
In terms of future development, Sunshine Early Care plans to expand their facilities by adding a second infant-toddler classroom and modifying their gym into a multi-sensory classroom to better accommodate neurodivergent children. They aim to enhance staff training for special needs care and make existing classrooms more accessible.
Sunshine Early Care holds a unique position as the only Russian emergent childcare center in Columbia, Missouri. Founded in 2007, the center has grown significantly under the guidance of Olga Tadzhibayev and her daughter Ruzana. The center’s commitment to the community is evident, as profits are reinvested into the center, and the owner prioritizes a low salary to support their mission of serving low-income and subsidy families.
The center faces competition from facilities like End of the Rainbow, Bright Start, and Turn the Page, but distinguishes itself through higher staff wages, investment in employee education, a commitment to a research-based curriculum, and low turnover rates among both children and staff. This funding is crucial for Sunshine Early Care to maintain its operations and continue contributing positively to the community.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 88-2948024
Location: Columbia, MO, United States
Length of Operation: 11plus
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: $250k to $500k
Annual Gross Expense: $250k to $500k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
The funds will go toward roof replacement as the building's roof is showing signs of extensive damage. The roof was damaged prior to the purchase of the building in 2019. However, Sunshine Early Care was not made aware of this issue until this year. Due to the damage accuring before our ownership, insurance will not cover the damage. The roof replacement cost is $30,000. Since we are already stuggling financially. This is a cost that we cannot pay for independently. Funds will go toward moving the playground fence. The City of Columbia is requiring Sunshine Early Care to move the fence 1 foot from the sidewalk all along the west side of the property. This change is required due to the easement measurement requirements. This will require the movement of our Missouri Native and Edible Butterfly garden. The cost for this change is $10,000. Funds will also cover a better trash pick-up area. We currently have a dumpster that is rented through T-Mac. Once a week, we need to roll the dumpster full of trash bags 40 ft to the west side driveway. This 40 ft goes through the playground. The current setup is highly inconvenient for the following reasons. 1 - the dumpster is heavy and can cause injury to our staff since it does take at least 2 staff members to roll it out. 2 - having to roll the dumpster through the playground endangers children on the playground as staff will need to open the gates, roll it out, and close the gates again. This takes attention away from supervision, and developmental play and generally is not a pleasant task. Our solution is to build a driveway further down the west side that way it is not near the playground. We want to build a gate on the street side for the trash collectors and a gate on the inner side for staff. This solution eliminates the need to transport the dumpster when it is heavy and it will not impact the children in the playground. This project will cost $60,000 to complete. In total, all three projects will cost $100,000 to complete. Some of these projects are under the City of Columbia deadline and nature's deadline to repair.
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Business Plan
In 5 years, we plan on building a 2nd infant toddler classroom for older infants that require a different curriculum than the infant classroom or the toddler classroom. Additionally, we plan on modifying our big room (gym) into a multi-sensory classroom for neurodivergent children. This way we can provide care for more minority children with special needs. We plan on increasing staff training to specialize in special needs children and modifying existing classrooms to be more assesiable and developmentally friendly to special needs children. Sunshine Early Care and Education Center is the only Russian emergent childcare center in Columbia Missouri. Our founder, Olga Tadzhibayev, opened the center in the basement of her home in 2007. I, Ruzana Tadzhibayev, am her daughter and from a young age was immersed in the business. Later, I received my Early Childhood and Education Degree. Since then, we have been able to grow our center to what it is today. We partner with local organizations such as First Steps and the Boone County Early Childhood Coalition in order to maximize the development of all our students. As the owner, I pay myself the lowest salary as all the earnings from our center goes straight back into it. We have a strong passion to continue serving our local community and benefit low-income and subsidy families in our area. Sunshine Early Care needs some help to continue our services and contribution to our community
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Self Identified Competition
Our competitors are End of the Rainbow, Bright Start, and Turn the Page. What makes us different is that: 1 - All our staff get paid higher than the minimum wage. 2 - we invest in our staff by supporting their higher education. We partner with TEACH to assist with scholarship opportunities and we assist with homework. Currently, we have 4 staff members pursuing higher education with Moberly Area Community College. 3- we are Highscope focused. High score is a research-based curriculum that focuses on active learning. This is one of the worlds learning childcare curriculums. 4 - Our turn over is very low as parents tend to stay with our center until graduation 5 - our staff turn over is very low because we invest so much into them.
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