Local woman finds success through EOC
By Lindsay Sauvageau JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

Jodi Saldi

Westminster resident Jodi Saldi found herself in her mid-thirties, without a job and almost without hope. Divorced with a two-yearold to take care of, Saldi was surviving with the help of family, but without any idea what to do next.

"I was looking for Monday through Friday jobs with mom's hours but those jobs are slim to none here and if they are out there, they want you to have more of an education that a high school diploma," she said.

Saldi had only a little over a year of college experience. She said when she was younger she followed the ill-fated promptings of her then boyfriend, now ex-husband, to leave school and to move to New York, where they lived for ten years.

"Trying to find work was difficult. If you only have a high school diploma, most of the jobs around here are manufacturing-driven and I didn't want to do physical labor. I was working in Belchertown for awhile but was laid off in '05. But even then the job was a long ways away and for all the work that I was doing, I wasn't being paid nearly enough," she said.

So Saldi began registering for free seminars through unemployment and career services.

"I took seminars on anything and everything. They have classes on entrepreneurial skills, how to write resumes, career letters, the do's and don't's of interviews, networking skills. I took anything they had that was free," she said.

It was during that time that Saldi was directed to the North Central Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) located on 100 Erdman Way in Leominster.

"I was looking for a career and not a job," she said. "And I knew I needed a better education."

The EOC, which has been operating in Leominster for the past five years, provides free and confidential financial aid, academic, and career information and counseling for adults. The EOC helps individuals with everything from career counseling to aid filling out college admission and financial aid applications.

According to Valerie Charlonne, the director of the EOC, the staff are like guidance councilors for grown ups.

"Many people come to us that have various concerns and barriers in their lives - work responsibilities, families and home responsibilities, or who are unemployed and are finding it difficult to get work," she said. "We help them through career counseling and assessment. We help them to access financial aid and college applications, help them navigate the paperwork, which often times becomes a barrier itself. We help people follow through with the paperwork and get started on getting the education they need."

A grant funded operation with the Department of Education, the EOC is administered through Mount Wachusett Community College. It's one of the six federally funded TRIO programs, which also include Upward Bound and Talent Search at the Mount.

Charlonne said the NCEOC helps individuals 19 and older who are looking to pursue a higher education or to get their GEDs. They are referred to the Opportunity Center through various other agencies including MWCC, Transitional Assistance in Fitchburg, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the Career Center of North Central Massachusetts and Hope for Women in Gardner.

For Saldi, finding the help she needed at the EOC changed her life.

"I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to do something. I couldn't just sit around all day wondering what was going to happen next," Saldi said.

Saldi said she sat down with Holly Kreidler Phaneuf, an Education Specialist at EOC and for two hours, began talking about her future and filling out the paperwork that was going to help her begin getting a higher education.

"I didn't know anything about the kind of financial aid options that were out there. I knew I didn't have $5,000 or $10,000 to go to school. I didn't even have $2,000," she said.

But through the EOC, Saldi found herself going back to school full-time, taking a basic math and English courses, the Art of Being Human and an introduction to criminal justice all through Mount Wachusett Community College.

"Going to the Opportunity Center was one of the best things I ever did," she said. "With the assistance I got and so much great support from the Mount, I didn't know the kinds of doors it would open."

Now when she's not at home teaching her young daughter to love learning, she's showing her firsthand.

"She sees her mom working and that's what I want for her, to love learning and to know how important it is to be educated. Everyone wants a better way of life and they want that for their families," she said.

Saldi attends classes, works part-time at the Molly Bish Center and helps the college with things like the recent Mayoral Luncheon.

"I'm also in the library sometimes until seven or eight at night," she said. "I'm not going to lie, there are days where it's a struggle. I have people telling me I'll never be able to do it, but that just makes me want to do it more. I wish I had done this sooner," she said.

For more information or to schedule an appointment with an education specialist call (978) 840-0176, ext. 107.