BY Ximena Loeza
Modesto Focus
When Sabby Garcia, a 40-year-old Peruvian immigrant, moved to Modesto in 2023 with her husband and two sons, she knew what she wanted to do for a business as soon as they toured what would become their new home.
Upon discovering the spacious, sun-soaked room in the back of the residence and its large backyard, the couple exchanged a glance. They both knew she had to follow her dreams to open her own daycare.
Yet she felt completely lost on how to start her own business in the United States. Running a daycare was something she wanted to do since she was child, seeing her mother go to work as a kindergarten teacher in Peru.
After some Google searches, she came upon the Nurture Program, a statewide program that helps women launch home-based child care businesses that had just started in Stanislaus County. She was intrigued by the program because it was held fully online and provided a sizable stipend at the end. By November 2024, she was enrolled and started the training that would help start her child care business, Happy KidDos.
Garcia said in Spanish that she feels so proud and happy to have followed her mother’s footsteps in working with children.
“I always liked watching my mom. She always told me to lead by example,” Garcia said. “It feels like part of my dream of becoming a teacher, like my mother, came true.”
Free training program offered in English and Spanish
Nurture is a free 12-week program, offered in English and Spanish, that helps aspiring small-business owners start and grow licensed home-based child care businesses. Through the Stanislaus 2030 project, the program provides step-by-step licensing support, business training, coaching, startup capital, and a strong community network of fellow providers.
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Though there are no application requirements, the cohort members consist of all women, most of whom are Spanish-speaking. The program is designed for women who face barriers such as limited English, low income, lack of transportation or unfamiliarity with U.S. systems. It meets women like Garcia where they are in life, helping them build financially sustainable and independent small businesses.
Nurture CEO Jennifer Brooks describes the program as a full, end-to-end pipeline for launching a licensed family child care business. The program also continues to support and sustain those newly-launched businesses after the 12-week program wraps.
The core mission of Nurture, Brooks said, is to help aspiring entrepreneurs make a stable income for their families. Brooks said high-quality early child care and education are the most effective ways to combat poverty, in addition to helping women create a lifetime of health and wealth benefits.
“Because that child-care entrepreneur is creating permanent child care spaces, that enables parents to work,” Brooks said. “And because that child care entrepreneur is getting licensed by the state, she’s providing higher quality care, and it’s the children at the end of the day who are benefiting from that higher quality care.”
Stanislaus 2030 Executive Director Amanda Hughes and her team had spent years closely examining the county’s economic challenges. The numbers pointed to one glaring structural problem: Stanislaus County was, and still is, a child care desert.
“At the time, we needed 36,000 more child care slots to meet workforce demand,” Hughes said. “There were subsidies available for parents, but nowhere to put the kids. The shortage was hurting families, hurting employers, and pushing women out of the workforce.”
Partnership found ‘child care desert’ in Stanislaus
Stanislaus 2030, a public–private partnership focused on building a more inclusive and resilient local economy, brought Nurture to the region in 2023 after an economic study revealed that Stanislaus County is one of California’s largest child care deserts. At the time of its analysis, the county had only a single licensed child care slot for every three children who needed one.
That leaves thousands of families without reliable options and forces many parents, especially mothers, out of the workforce.
By mapping care shortages by ZIP code and identifying the areas with the highest poverty and lowest workforce participation, Stanislaus 2030 created a targeted strategy to expand child care access while improving income quality for the women who provide it. Their investment in Nurture is part of a broader effort to address systemic barriers, strengthen the care economy, and ensure that both families and local entrepreneurs can thrive.
Hughes said that Stanislaus 2030 has launched 85 new businesses in the county over the past year and a half, including child care and other initiatives. As of early March 2024, the pilot phase with Nurture had successfully helped 17 licensed graduates open their child care businesses, resulting in 136 new permanent licensed child care spaces. This additional capacity is projected to generate $4.6 million in economic activity for the county in the first year alone, according to the Stanislaus 2030 Child Care Report from April 2024.
The program boasts a major incentive, in the form of some financial support tied to completion. Participants in Stanislaus County can receive a $2,500 startup stipend, access to zero-interest, credit-building loans, and a $1,000 technology incentive for completing Nurture’s Business 101 course. A $5,000 expansion grant is available for providers seeking a larger license. These financial tools remove the biggest upfront barriers and allow women to launch and grow their businesses without taking on risky debt.
Garcia received her business license in February 2025 after four months with Nurture. She recalls that last day when the county inspector came to her home for a final inspection before she was awarded her license. She spent weeks prior going over every detail, every safety precaution, every requirement. Her parents handbook was meticulously put together, both in English and Spanish. And the Nurture team was there for every step of the way, Garcia said.
“When the inspector arrived, I was so nervous,” she said. “But the lady took a look around and said to me, ‘I don’t have anything to look for. I already knew you were ready.’”
She nearly burst into tears that very moment, she said.
She now has a waiting list full of parents that she curated herself, from months spent marketing on social media. Garcia is also working to expand her license in order to care for more children next year. Nurture’s second-level course on operations, taxes and hiring is already helping her prepare for these next steps in expanding her business.
Her 2-year-old son also helps out: he checks backpacks, cleans up spilled water and hands out toys to the three other children under age 5 in her care. Her 11-year-old son has even learned how to change diapers.
“When they call me ‘Miss Sabi’ or ‘miss Sa,’” she said, “it fills my heart.”
To learn more about applying for the Nurture program, you can download the Nurture app and apply there, or text or call (765)329-2273, or you can visit their website at www.nurturebusiness.org to learn more.
Ximena Loeza is the bilingual communities reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at ximena@cvlocaljournalism.org.
