December 1, 1994: Vol26n12: UB's 'best-kept secret' revealed to FSEC

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee learned all about what Vice
President Muriel Moore called "the university's best-kept secret"
during a meeting last month.
	Representatives of the downtown Educational Opportunity Center
(EOC), sponsored by UB, explained their program and fielded questions
during an FSEC meeting Nov. 16. The EOC, located at 465 Washington
Street, is one of 11 such centers sponsored by SUNY institutions
statewide.
	The EOC offers an educational second chance to
non-traditional, economically disadvantaged students, according to EOC
Director Sherryl Weems. In operation since 1973, the EOC offers a
five-stage program that focuses on basic educational training,
including English as a Second Language, general equivalency degree
programs and vocational or pre-college placement training. Last year,
the center, which employs about 100 people, served more than 1,600
students, according to Weems, including 300 students who went on to
college and 240 who obtained job placements.
	One in seven young people in the inner city lacks a high
school education, explained Weems. Many leave school because of the
pressures of their personal lives: the need to work, a dysfunctional
home life or the need to become heads of households or family
caregivers. That creates a large market for the services offered by
the center.
	The typical EOC student is female, in her mid-20s, a single
head of household with a monthly income of less than $500, said Weems.
Eighty-five percent of EOC students receive some form of public
assistance. Fifty percent of the students are African-American.
	"We are talking about students for whom education is not a
high priority," said Weems. "At best it is a means to an end." Almost
all have already failed at school at one level or another, and many
are from the poorest of Buffalo's inner-city neighborhoods, she said.
	"They are just told, at some point, 'You're not capable of
doing this,'" Weems said, explaining that many suffer from very low
self-esteem at the time that they turn to EOC for help. Through a
program known as BRIDGE, funded by the state Department of Social
Services, the center offers specific job training and placement
services exclusively to recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent
Children.
	The center is more than just a school, Weems said. It hosts an
on-site daycare center and is now constructing a Head Start facility,
also on-site. The center staff includes social workers and counselors.
Among the vocational training programs the center specializes in are
library sciences, in conjunction with the Erie County Library, which
is next door to the center, and dental hygiene, in conjunction with
the UB dental school.
	Weems conceded that last month's election, which saw
conservative George Pataki elected governor, does not bode well for
her center. "We are fully prepared to defend our program," she said,
"and could be back again to ask your support in defending our
program."                   o