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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.
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.
Many of you know that BCL has a new Dallas office - but what you may not know is that one of our BCL customers, a florist, is now in the old BCL space! Martha Banda of Event Stems approached BCL because she was looking for a bigger and more permanent space for her business to grow.
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.
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.
Patrick Myers, founder and CEO of Austin-based Eagle Pride Supply, is recapturing his American Dream. The son of a soldier and youngest of 8 siblings, Myers worked in the corporate world for 25 years before founding his own business.
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.
With a focus on counties along the I-35 corridor, BCL of Texas has worked with businesses in cities across the state of Texas, from Dallas and Austin to small towns such as Rogers and Luling, TX. During the month of April, we are celebrating our commitment to supporting growing businesses that will create jobs to build economic vitality in rural communities across our state.
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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