Emily Hays Photo
Gentle Hands owner Tennille Smalls: Sometimes I have to pinch myself that we did it.
While the pandemic proved fatal to some childcare centers, Tennille Smalls found a way to open a new one — with the help of a New Haven coalition that has enabled other providers to remain open.
On Monday, Smalls will open the doors to Gentle Hands center in Morris Cove.
Aside from her own grit, Smalls’ miracle happened through a combination of relief aid and the kind of powerful networks and small business support that Black-owned businesses rarely have access to.
“I’m still shocked at what God did through me. I’m just a person. I feel like Wonder Woman did this,” Smalls said.
Across the country, an estimated20,000 daycare facilities have closed due to the pandemic.
Connecticut has lost 15 percent of the small, family childcare providers run out of homes and 20 percent of the larger center-based businesses, according to local childcare organizer Georgia Goldburn.
Goldburn has managed to buttress the members of Cercle, the provider organization she founded, against that loss.
Cercle has stocked the home-based providers up with monthly installments of personal protective equipment, toilet paper, paper plates and other supplies. The group has helped members apply to federal and state grants to stay afloat. With these combined resources, none of Cercle’s 40 active members has closed.
(Goldburn is the executive director of the child care center Hope for New Haven. She founded Cerle; she is not on its paid staff.)
A Moment Of Lost Hope
Smalls knew before the Covid-19 pandemic began that she wanted to expand her Gentle Hands home-based daycare into a full childcare center.
Early in the pandemic, she found a small building in Morris Cove where another childcare center had closed. She resolved to renovate the space and maintain the 30 slots for children lost in the previous closure.
Excited to expand and new to this kind of project management, she turned to the wrong contractor. He stripped everything out of the building and exhausted almost $50,000 without building much in its place. The plumbing and electricity was a mess. Even the tiles had gaps.
Out of money by November, Smalls almost gave up on her vision. Distraught, she called Goldburn.
Smalls with Cercle founder Georgia Goldburn.
Goldburn told her that she was not done and that this hurdle was a normal part of doing business.
Only about one-third of small businesses make it past their 10th year. As the owner of a small business in its fifth year, Smalls was already beating the odds.
“She hasn’t shut down her business. She’s expanding. That in and of itself is a feat,” Goldburn said. “People of color often don’t have the big context. They internalize that problems come from a lack of knowledge or skills, when really this is the state of play.”
Smalls and Goldburn called in the big guns. With the help of Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola and New Haven Building Official Jim Turcio, Smalls found a recommended and reliable contractor, John Mayer of Exterior Designs.
Goldburn helped Smalls find the remaining dollars she needed to complete the renovation. Smalls joked that she dialed Goldburn every morning at 8:30 a.m. on the dot to walk through every problem that arose. She didn’t want to make any more mistakes, even if they weren’t her fault.
Smalls never missed a month of the $1,800 lease on her space. Sometimes that meant she was late on her mortgage payment instead. She found nearly new furniture for a fraction of its price, braving a long UHaul drive and a bear sighting to pick it up from another provider closing her business. She cried with the other provider, whose husband had given her an ultimatum to throw all the furniture away.
By the end of February, Smalls had all the permits she needed and was ready to tour parents around the new space.
Grants, Not Loans
Goldburn: Grants will help. Loans will not.
Gentle Hands is the first center Cercle has helped open during the pandemic. In addition, the organization is helping two small providers to get licensed.
To keep this up, childcare providers need grants, not loans, Goldburn emphasized. Working with razor-thin margins, providers don’t want to take out loans when their businesses might not exist long enough to pay it back.
More dollars are around the corner for childcare operators with the second round of coronavirus relief and the third round expected to follow.
“The state already has a dearth of childcare providers. The pandemic made that worse,” Goldburn said.
Inaction could push more childcare businesses to close, as Goldburn predicted last spring. This threatens the long-term achievement and quality of life of children of color, the focus of Cercle’s efforts.
Smalls has watched some of her Gentle Hands charges grow from four-month-old infants to three-year-olds speaking in full sentences and drawing pictures. She has watched them take their first steps — without telling their mothers so parents could experience that moment on their own.
One of the children recently asked for the make-believe kitchen (pictured above) Smalls moved from her home to her new center. Smalls explained where the kitchen was and delighted in the fact that this child was now able to have a full conversation.
Smalls’ home-based Gentle Hands location has stayed open through the pandemic. The health risk is frightening, but no child or adult at her center has spread the disease to anyone else. A few children have independently tested positive for the virus but Smalls and her assistants have been fine.
Smalls has a new sprayer, courtesy of Cercle, that allows her to clean and sanitize all surfaces within 10 minutes. Any toys infants and toddlers put in their mouth go into a sanitized bin and are off-limits until disinfected. She now has a children’s book about children wearing masks.
“There’s a lot of hand washing. I try to normalize it and not focus on it. I’m not naive though,” Smalls said.
Monday will be the first day childcare workers, along with teachers and school staff, can sign up to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Smalls is strongly leaning towards getting the vaccine and has encouraged her staff to do so as well.
Monday is also the first day Gentle Hands will be officially open at 99 Townsend Ave. There are roughly 12 left of the 30 total seats. Those interested in those slots can call Smalls at 203 – 745-5066.
Thank you to all the childcare providers who valiantly struggled through this pandemic to provide the services that so many working parents need. The government should provide funding for universal early childhood education and daycare to give every child the quality care and head start early learning that is essential to be ready to start kindergarten after age 5.