Florence’s Story

“My United Way gave me the courage to try again. I had two restaurants fail, and I was struggling financially. The Individual Development Account grant helped me start my catering business without having to get a payday loan. With help from IDA’s financial education classes, I fixed my credit and got out of debt. Now my business is growing, and I’ve saved enough to buy a home.”

To Florence, food is love. She has always loved to cook, and her eyes twinkle when she explains how she loves the way food brings people together.

Born in Sierra Leone, Florence joined her father in the United States at age 11. But her life in a new country was far from ideal. Her father was an alcoholic; she became a teenage mom, and she married young. Florence kept busy raising four children, but she always dreamed of owning her own restaurant. After taking a few culinary classes and working for various chefs around the city, she took a risk and became the proud owner in 2010 of the Figs Café and Bakery, featuring West African and Caribbean cuisine.

Despite a lot of hard work and long 16- to 18-hour-days, her first restaurant failed. Florence tried again in a more ethnically diverse neighborhood. But that restaurant failed, too. At that point, she was nearly bankrupt and her credit score reflected her struggles. She was not ready to give up on her dream, though, knowing her only other option was to go back to working in a kitchen, earning low wages.

Florence was looking for a smaller space for a third restaurant when her realtor told her about the Economic Community Development Institute’s (ECDI) Food Fort. She was able to rent commercial kitchen and storage space at the Food Fort for 1/3 the cost of leasing restaurant space. And the ECDI staff encouraged her to apply for an Individual Development Account grant, which helped her launch and keep her catering business going.

The IDA grant, funded in part by United Way, provided start-up money and helped her get through the weeks before she received her first payment from a client. The program included classes that taught her how to write a business plan, improve her credit score and slowly expand without acquiring more debt.

“I was really struggling because I had to spend money first, then wait to be paid. I was always behind,” she explains. “The grant helped get and keep my business going without cutting corners or taking out a payday loan.”

Today, Florence cooks healthy, fresh lunches for more than 700 children at two schools – Noble Academy and Horizon Science Academy. Her flexible hours enable her, as a single mom, to be available for her four children in the afternoons and evenings. As a result, she says, she’s been able to focus more on their education and their grades have improved.

“I’m working toward the American Dream,” Florence says, smiling broadly. “I went from being on welfare and using food stamps to now having some savings I didn’t have before. I’ve improved my credit score by 200 points, and I’m working with a mortgage company to buy a home soon. I feel like I’m a success.”