Taryn Tomkins, director of MassEdCO's GEAR UP Worcester program was elected 2016-17 president of Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association (MEOA) at its 32nd annual conference held in Devens in October. MassEdCO's CEO, Pamela Boisvert, was a founder of the nonprofit and its 1987-88 president.
Begun in 1984, MEOA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose members are educators, policy makers, professionals in the private sector and other individuals committed to ensuring that secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities are appropriate and accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
MEOA currently has over 160 members from across the state and is affiliated regionally with the New England Educational Opportunity Association (NEOA) and nationally with the Washington, DC-based Council for Opportunity in Education (COE).
Through its annual conference, professional development events, listserv, scholarship, quarterly newsletter, alumni outreach, and advocacy efforts, MEOA works to advocate for and support the work of TRIO, GEAR UP, Gateway to College, and other college access and success programs hosted in the state.