Help us Save Imagina

To my beloved Imagina Community,

I hope you are healthy and finding ways to adjust to this new normal we are all faced with.  Please give virtual hugs to the kids!

 As we are all navigating great uncertainty, I am reaching out to share with you the immediate decision I am facing -how can I keep Imagina open?   I don't honestly know what closing Imagina would look like, but it most likely means my family will leave the area and my current students will have to find a new community to return to.  

I have built Imagina over the last 11 years based on the joy I get working with your children.  I am tremendously proud of the program we have created and gratitude for the community we have built.  

Imagina was not built to run as a vastly profitable business - your tuition covers the cost of rent, teacher salaries, food for the children, and a small amount invested into the curriculum.  It will come as no surprise that rent & salaries are the vast majority of our monthly expenses.  In recent years when I expanded Imagina, I did so through a business loan which will be paid back over many years.  

 When the Shelter in Place order was first issued, it became clear I needed to quickly reduce the monthly expenses and explore other options.  In mid-March, I did the following:

-Communicated to all my employees that I would pay them through April to provide a small certainty
-Made the difficult decision to "lay-off" 5 teachers, shrinking our staff to just 3 teachers effective May 1
-Applied for the federal Payback Protection Program (PPP):  Imagina meets the criteria & has an application in the queue, but the funds are currently depleted and there is no clear timeframe on if/when more funds will be available

I remain hopeful that in August I will be able to welcome back my students with open arms.    Unfortunately, as a business owner, I am currently unable to cover rent or reduced salaries beyond May.  In order to operate with the most basic requirements to retain my license and keep all locations in place until August, I need a total $120K commitment for May, June & July.  Given this, I am humbly asking for support through this GoFundMe and I am also:

-Talking to the families of current students to see if there is a commitment to pay a reduced tuition for the next three months.  
-Continuing to explore other options available to small businesses through the City of Palo Alto and foundations/grants.  None of these are likely to be known by April 30th - but may potentially alleviate the mounting financial pressure in future months.  
-Additionally if you know of resources (public or private) available for small businesses at this time, please share those with me.

My immediate decision must be made April 30th to provide notice to my landlords to terminate the existing leases at the end of May.   If I don't have sufficient commitment on April 30th, then I must close some OR all of the Imagina locations effective June 1st. 

I appreciate any support for Imagina and our small, but close community.  Wishing you and your family health and peace in this difficult time.

 Warmly,

Esther