INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE

The University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) is an award-winning model program for academic preparation and workforce development. Positioned well to address the challenges and opportunities of our current economy, we offer developmental programs that address Essential Skills for Literacy training, English as a Second Language education, and academic preparation programs that address GED Exam and College Preparation.  In direct alliance with the employment sector, we offer a full range of career specific training programs in Allied Health Fields, Information Technology, and in the Service Industry.  The programs are complemented by an aggressive network of support services that include:  counseling and advisement; personal wellness through case management services; intergenerational support services, career advisement, job readiness, job and college placement and job retention services.

Our students represent a diverse range of adults aged 16 to past retirement age.  They are non-traditional, mature and rely on a full complement of life experiences that enable success in their pursuit of educational opportunities and vocational training. Our faculty and staff are experienced teachers and fully credentialed in their area of expertise.  They carry on a tradition of commitment and dedication to the students and to the mission of the EOC.

The EOC is intricately involved in economic and workforce development initiatives and we engage strategic partnerships that work to aggressively meet the needs of the diverse local and regional residents.  The EOC has been in the forefront of significant planning collaborations involving the design and implementation of programs with local municipalities, business, industry, social service agencies and health agencies that ultimately impact increased job availability; a better trained workforce; and personal and community empowerment.  Several signature initiatives include:  the Workplace Essential Skills Program, the Strengthening Families Initiative funded by the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and continued work with the National Work Readiness Credential Exam.

We house one of the State University’s largest and most successful Welfare to Work programs, BRIDGE.  The goal of this program is to assist eligible families with dependent children attain the skills necessary to move from public support to self-sufficiency in a short period of time.  In addition, through a special legislative appropriation, the EOC coordinates the delivery services of two (2) Advanced Training and Information Network (ATTAIN) Labs.  One lab is located in the EOC and the other is housed in a community based setting at the Martha Mitchell Community Center which is part of a Buffalo Municipal Housing Development.

The EOC model incorporates a comprehensive service delivery system designed for the Western New York region.  Fortified by more than 35 years of history, we have been responsible for thousands of individuals receiving GED’s, entering college and/or securing employment.