Power of SUNY

UB Builds Educational Opportunity Center in Downtown Buffalo

On Sept. 14, 2010, the University at Buffalo broke ground on its new $46 million downtown Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), the university's foremost initiative for training urban community members for jobs and preparing them for higher education. The center will be located in the heart of downtown Buffalo, at 77 Goodell St.

The complex is designed to facilitate collaboration and allow EOC students to learn in an environment that will inspire vision and provide an opportunity to achieve promising futures. It will replace the EOC's present site at 465 Washington St., and allow the EOC to reach even more than the 2,000 people who now take part annually in the organization's services.

EOC programs and services include classes in remedial and academic preparation, as well as specific job training programs in allied health, life sciences, information technology and environmental industries.

The new 63,834-square-foot EOC building will be constructed primarily of environmentally friendly, durable fiber cement panels and glass. The design will feature large window frames and open stairways that bring natural light into the building, and offer faculty, staff and students dynamic views of the city.

The UB EOC is part of a statewide network of 10 Educational Opportunity Centers and two Outreach and Counseling Centers operated under the University Center for Academic and Workforce Development -- the SUNY oversight office of the EOC. For more than 40 years, the EOC has helped adults access higher education, obtain gainful employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.