It's not how you start... it's where you finish
2017 - Patricia A. Elliott-Patton
2017 UBEOC Arthur O. Eve Education and Community Service Award
UBEOC Class of 2005
Ms. Patricia A. Elliott-Patton breathed in an incubator during her first two months of life. Her childhood was spent living “pillar to post” with different family members. “I wouldn’t change a thing about my upbringing,” notes Patricia. “The escapist world I mentally fabricated made me a very creative person.”
“The Buffalo EOC was the gear I needed to shift me.”
Graduating from high school while pregnant, Patricia married and forfeited a full college scholarship to Mansfield University in Erie, PA. When she enrolled in the UBEOC College Preparation Program, she was married for the third time, had four children and then received public assistance after that relationship ended. Trish now reflects upon her “personal GPS” that lead her to UBEOC. “I was able to re-calculate. EOC provided me direction and was the gear I needed to shift me.”
Patricia completed her UBEOC coursework and worked at AmeriCorps Vista for three years. She then became the Client Services Coordinator at the Canisius College Women’s Business Center and a matriculating student of Canisius College as a religious studies major. Unable to complete her degree due to financial aid considerations, Patricia took a job at WUFO as their Traffic Manager. Her true calling, however, came in 2008 when she accepted a position with the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County Inc. Julian B. Dargan Independent Living Center as a Case Manager assisting homeless women. After four years she was transferred to the CAO Alphonso “Rafi” Greene Jr. Masten Resource Center as the Assistant Director. She is currently the Director in Training there and will accept the title of Director and responsibility thereof in July 2017.
Patricia’s service to community is vast. Alongside facilitating numerous CAO projects including the “Better Schools, Better Neighborhoods” initiative, she serves as the 2nd Vice President of the District Parent Coordinating Council advocating for parents to help make certain that their children receive a world class education. She is also an active member of the Buffalo Kwanzaa Committee as the Children's Kwanzaa Chairperson. In addition, Patricia facilitates the “Raising Queens Program” at the Health Sciences Charter School, helping high school girls set goals and practice good decision making skills. In April 2016, Patricia was endorsed by The Buffalo News and ran for the East District seat on the Buffalo School Board. Her latest adventure is launching her new ice cream truck business, Children of the Sun Water Ice.” “I always fantasized having my own ice cream truck when I was a kid,” Trish says.
Alumni Affairs and Student Development Office