Thread Capital Inc

Our mission is to provide capital, coaching, and connections to small businesses who have traditionally had challenges accessing resources. Our specific focus is on small businesses that are owned by people of color, women, low-income individuals, and rural-based individuals. We are committed to creating a more robust, inclusive ecosystem, crafting a new era of entrepreneurship across the state of North Carolina, one that gives everyone an opportunity to achieve their small business dreams.

In 2016, Alana and Steven Bennett’s youngest son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. That led them to look for places to take him and his older brother for recreation and education, like horseback riding and music fairs.

Quickly, they discovered these environments often could not accommodate typical developing and atypical developing children at the same time. Wanting to create inclusive and interactive environments their boys could experience together, the parents began hosting pop-up events like Easter egg hunts and movie-and-pizza nights at parks and community centers around their hometown of Mebane near Burlington.

By early 2021, when the boys were 12 and 7, the Bennetts decided to create a business focusing on inclusive childcare. Funding from Thread Capital, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) providing small business loans in North Carolina, gave them the money to open TECpark in Burlington in January 2022.

The business offers flexible childcare, educational programming, and facility rental and space for children’s parties. Life skills development and social opportunities are also part of the business model for individuals with ADHD; autism; Down syndrome; physical disabilities; and learning, social and emotional disorders.

Soon after opening, rain and snow flooded the building through a leak in the roof. The Bennetts moved as many of the furnishings that could be saved into storage, while they paused to strategize. After explaining their situation to Thread Capital, they received payment extension that helped the Bennetts save TECpark.

Being able to have that relationship with Thread Capital at the local level made it possible to open a physical facility, hire staff and outfit the space, Alana Bennett said. ‚And then, when a disaster hit, that relationship gave us the breathing room to push our payments out while we regrouped and figured everything out. The business did, indeed, regroup and reopened last summer.