Capital District EOC – 1976
Business Program

A Single Mom Helps Others Find Hope at the CDEOC

Beverly Bardequez married and started to raise a family at a very young age. When she got divorced, she was forced to go out on her own with just a high school education and three children to feed. Fortunately, she heard about the Business Program at the Capital District EOC (CDEOC) in Troy, New York.

At the EOC, Ms. Bardequez learned valuable business skills that would make her more attractive to employers – such as typing and clerical skills, stenography, business math and English grammar. She reports, “I needed help to get back on my feet. That’s why I call EOC my ‘cornerstone.’ It’s where I started putting the pieces of my life back together.”

Her EOC experience enabled her to enroll at the University at Albany, where she received a B.A. in Communications and African-American Studies in 1988. Later that year, she joined the Capital District EOC as a recruiter. She was promoted to Assistant Enrollment Services Officer and then to Enrollment Services Manager, where she takes great satisfaction in her job. “My work for the EOC is a labor of love,” she explains. “I understand the challenges others are facing because of my own situation. I know what it’s like to need help and not be sure how to get it.”

Ms. Bardequez is also the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Officer for the Capital District EOC. She has co-chaired the EOC’s Community Resource Day, Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Black History Celebration and Graduation Committee. She concludes, “The EOC was pivotal in my life. I would not have been able to pursue higher education without its help.” It’s no wonder that Ms. Bardequez received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award of Excellence in Professional Service in May 2003.