Louis and Kathleen Liguori are committed to high quality childcare in their community. They provide early childhood education to more than 350 children at two Long Island Tutor Time facilities. Tutor Time is a national franchise with age-specific programs that inspire children to learn and cultivate skills and confidence. They are constantly fine-tuning the childcare process at their centers, understanding there is more to quality childcare than painting a room in bright colors. They also try to help the parents, providing coffee and pastries on some mornings, having a hair dresser come to the facility to cut the children’s hair, and on some days enabling parents to order dinner that can be picked up when they pick up their children.

Louis and Kathleen first visited the SBDC before opening their first center in 1997 to obtain business planning assistance. In 2003, they returned to the SBDC for assistance in opening a second facility – a state of the art childcare learning center.

They are active in the community – in fact they often lobby Suffolk County legislators on behalf of the children and childcare providers in the region. As Kathleen once said, “a quality childcare center should want to be a good neighbor and be involved with civic groups.” In recognition of their community activism, 2003, the Long Island Works Coalition presented the Liguoris with a special award to recognize their involvement in the community.

In August 2003, the Liguoris found themselves coping with a major power outage and children waiting for their parents long after the scheduled pick up time.  They kept the children entertained and comfortable, saying later that the parents should have a contingency plan, but “when you leave a child in our care, we take care of that child.”