We started Circle Kids

We are starting a playschool that is going to turn into a preschool: Circle Kids. If 3 and 4 years olds get signed up, we will get rolling in October!

If you want to be a part of the start up (and we need you) please check out the webpage. Gail Szczesniak, our Director, will soon be full time, taking the risks to build something full of love and hope for children in the the city.

Here is a brief rendition of how we got into starting businesses…

• Circle of Hope’s plans to provide “good business” started with Worldly Goods on Tenth St. in 1998. That was fun, but it did not last long.

• Then we started Circle Thrift. It almost died, too. But Martha and a crew helped make it sing. It is still singing in two locations.
  

• In 2011, we started the Good Business Consortium, which was a great, ambitious idea. The players are still around, but we let the consortium go. (We are not afraid to try things!).
• In the summer of 2015, we tried to hire a self-supporting business generator. We decided we did not want to spend all our capital on that.
• In the summer of 2016 we filled our map with good business enthusiasm. So we gathered together a small team to brainstorm our future direction.
• The impending end of the lease for 1125 S. Broad St. in February of 2017 unleashed a torrent of activity. South Broad found two new buildings and the church decided to buy one. Then we decided to retain 1125 for good business purposes and the Hub.
• Part of the overall plan for the two South Broad buildings was to start another business at 2214 S. Broad St. which turned into Circle Kids. From March to June we made a plan. From June to August, our part-time director finished the plan and did leg work. We ran into issues with the City and needed to go to “plan B.” From August to now we recruited kids and fixed up the building. It has been fast work! Now if we can only get a crew of children!