
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993                   TAG: 9308300121
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

STATE LOANS OFFERED TO DAY-CARE CENTERS

The state is offering direct loans to licensed day-care centers, which often find it difficult to get conventional financing because they lack collateral and have small profit margins.

"These kinds of operations are just not very attractive to banks," said Mary Ellen Verdu, executive director of the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs. "They're considered high risk."

The loans offered by the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority range from $1,500 to $15,000 and can be used to improve playground equipment, buy new toys and increase the safety in child-care centers.

"If someone can get a loan without jumping through all the hoops you usually have to go through, then it can't help but improve the quality of day care," said Evelyn Green, executive director of the Tidewater Child Care Association.

Day-care providers began receiving information about the loan program last week.

The first dollars in the program, which was conceived by the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, should start filtering into day-care centers in September.

The money cannot be used for building construction, working capital or refinancing existing debt. Also, home-based day care operations do not qualify for the program.

by CNB