Related
Many small businesses are hoping the government will come through with a second relief package to keep them from closing their doors.
That includes many day care facilities, who have lost a lot of business even as they have been allowed to continue operating during the shelter-in-place order.
Some children are still coming to Bernice and Joe Playschool in East Oakland, but enrollment has been down nearly 50% because daycare programs are only allowed to cater to essential workers as clients, like health care professionals or public transit employees.
"I have two to four children coming in a few days a week at this point," Bernice and Joe Playschool Owner and Director Anna Rodrigues said.
Many employees have been furloughed. The remaining staff have taken pay cuts.
"We had hoped that some of these grants would - we’d at least get something," Rodrigues said. "We thought, you know, if we get something that gets us through even a month, it’s something. We have received nothing."
Like many small business owners, Rodrigues told KCBS Radio she’s hoping lawmakers on Capitol Hill will come through with a second, even bigger small business relief package.
"Maybe foolishly hopeful that things will go the way they need to go and I’ll be back with my children, my work kids," Rodrigues said.
If it doesn't, Rodrigues fears she may have to close the preschool before the shelter-in-place is over.
Bernice and Joe Playschool has been serving East Oakland since 1980.