Two years after opening a small day-care center in her apartment, Jacqueline Bedoya is expanding. Where she was previously allowed to care for as many as six children, her license to operate the business was upgraded to allow as many as 10. She hired her 18-year-old daughter as an assistant, and thanks to the income she’ll get from the additional clients, she and her husband were able to buy a three-family home to accommodate the business. Bedoya, 37, is one of about 90 Latino entrepreneurs who recently completed a program at the Urban College of Boston aimed at opening or expanding home-based day-care centers, and generating economic activity in low-income neighborhoods. The program has helped Bedoya, who emigrated from Colombia about 10 years ago, transform herself from a low-wage worker cleaning hotels, offices, and hospitals into a business owner with her own home. Bedoya has nearly doubled her income, to about $900 a week, since enrolling in the program and starting her business. She will do even better once she fills the additional slots, at about $150 per child. In just the last week, she’s added two children, bringing her total to eight, and she expects to soon fill the last two openings.For further details visit as ; http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/08/18/low_income_areas_around_boston_get_boost_through_microenterprises_program/
