26 | 2020 SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS AWARDS — NJSBDC 2020 Small Business Awardee NJSBDC AT RUTGERS-NEWARK Village Babies Development Center, LLC Dana Kearney, Owner 401 Valley St. South Orange, NJ 07079 973-378-5906 http://www.villagebabies.com Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Village Babies Development Center, LLC VBDC Dana Kearney, has been tapping the services of NJSBDC at Rutgers-Newark since July 2013. Located in South Orange, NJ, VBDC was established in March 2005, shortly after Kearneys son, Jaelen, was born. By caring for her own son and subsequently two of her neighbors children, she nurtured her idea of establishing an early childhood center. These latter personal experiences along with Danas past registered nurse profession influenced the formation of VBDC. Within four years, she expanded from a registered in-home daycare with five children to a free-standing early childhood development center that provides up to 165 children with diverse personal needs, social/emotional skills and customized education. After meeting with NJSBDC at Rutgers-Newark Regional Center Director Dr. Tendai Ndoro at an Introduction to Business Workshop, Kearney began incrementally developing her business goals and vision. I am sincerely humbled and grateful for the guidance by Dr. Ndoro and the many other NJSBDC consultants that have provided me with necessary tools to support my endeavors over the past seven years, stated Dana Kearney. Kearney has diligently utilized resources of the NJSDBC at Rutgers-Newark, participating in several training events and workshops and receiving technical assistance totaling more than 100 hours of counseling (prep and contact) from the Center. Danas business owner sustainability skills were tested during the initial COVID-mandated closing of childcare centers. Prior to the lockdown, VBDC had 47 employees. Despite the pandemic, she retained 17 employees, then, rehired them after re-opening the VBDC facility. With NJSBDCs support, the business received an EIDL and PPP loan to compensate for the business economic losses, helping VBDC to maintain and re-hire employees during the pandemic. Dana used her medical knowledge to provide a protective environment at the facility to address such COVID-19 challenges. My medical experience as a registered nurse and knowledge of early childhood growth and development created a unique childcare service, she observed. With careful planning and client feedback, Kearney reopened VBDC on June 29 with more than 60 children. She created and offers Distance Learning Kits customized to each childs learning style for those patrons who opted to keep their children at home, encouraging them to use Zoom so their children can join with the other attending children for a live brief morning exercise. VBDC is engaging with the Rutgers Business School/SBDC Student Experiential Learning program concerning digital marketing/E-commerce aspects of the online Distance Learning Kits product. VBDC will also collaborate with the RBS Student Consulting Supply Chain program, exploring production viability of the Distance Learning Kits and sourcing manufacturing suppliers. The Center has also referred Kearney to an Intellectual Property attorney who will be assisting her with patent/ trademarks for the Distance Learning Kits. 2012029 v2 NJSBDC 2020 Awards Book_TEXT.indd 24 12/10/20 3:24 PM
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