Born in Au Cap, Haiti, and raised in Spring Valley, New York, Yanick Heriveaux Jenkins has had the honor of serving as the director of the Buffalo State College Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) for 21 years, and as senior adviser for Precollegiate Programs since 2019. As such, she has created an energetic atmosphere for the growth and development of academic scholars and future community leaders.
With a B.S. in social work and a master’s in counselor education specializing in counseling minority groups, she worked for eight years as the creator and director of the Office for Multicultural Affairs at D’Youville College. She is also a former EOP adviser at SUNY Brockport and a former HEOP adviser at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has dedicated her life to fostering and supporting the empowerment, leadership, and self-enhancement qualities of all she encounters, paying special attention to those who are marginalized within society.
Ms. Jenkins is the Western New York regional coordinator for the Educational Opportunity Program Directors Group, President of the Educational Opportunity Director’s Council, a 20-year consultant and program facilitator with the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York, a 2001 graduate of Leadership Buffalo, and an active member of the women’s empowerment group Women in the Spotlight Going Global. She partners with EMBRACE WNY, an organization working toward equality for all Western New York residents, especially in the LGBT community; the Young Miss Buffalo Empowerment Training and Pageant; and the Haiti Outreach Program Pwoje Espwa. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., and the Ladybug Sisterhood.
Areas of Expertise: First-Generation Students, Community Leadership, Social Justice