News from the Noteworthy from Opportunities for Otsego

Reminiscences, Advice and a Fond Farewell

Now that I am officially the outgoing chief executive officer of Opportunities for Otsego, I’ve been reflecting (but not too much) on all the years I’ve been doing this work. My first day at OFO was October 1, 1987 as an itinerant outreach worker in a high school dropout prevention program. But I got started in this business with an organization called Project 85. It was named for its address, 85 Chestnut Street in Oneonta (it later moved to 259 Chestnut Street but still kept the Project 85 name). I’m not sure when Project 85 actually started, but I think it was either 1969 or 1970. It was a 24-hour hotline and drop-in center.