The Community Foundation’s commitment to the quality of our local children’s education, as well as the vitality of the City of Syracuse, was displayed when we recently pledged $1,000,000 to support the Say Yes to Education Syracuse Demonstration Program. This is the largest grant in our 82-year history. The contribution, in the form of a dollar-for-dollar match over the next five years, is meant to boost fundraising for the inclusion of state colleges and universities in the free tuition component of the program.
The Say Yes to Education Fund, housed at the Community Foundation, was established to ensure that Syracuse City School District graduates will be financially able to attend SUNY/CUNY two-year community colleges and four-year colleges and universities through the auspices of the Say Yes to Education program. Say Yes to Education, Inc. is a national not-for-profit organization committed to dramatically increasing high school and college graduation rates for our nation’s inner-city youth by making the outlook for college academically and financially feasible for them.
The cornerstone of the Say Yes to Education program is the commitment of college scholarships for every eligible student graduating from the Syracuse City School District. Say Yes to Education is intended to provide students with the vision of college from an early age, supporting them from Kindergarten to 12th grade and following through on the promise by making college financially accessible to those that achieve academic qualification.
For those students who want to attend a private college or university, 23 private institutions partnered to form the Higher Education Compact. Their pledge is to provide academically-prepared youth with education options at no or a very low cost.
We stepped in to respond to a key missing element in the program – tuition scholarships to graduates who would like to attend New York State colleges and universities (SUNY/CUNY) during the project’s first five years. The Say Yes to Education Fund, was established at the Community Foundation to collect private contributions. We will match gifts, up to a total of $1,000,000, to the fund until 2013.
"We hope that our commitment will inspire others to support this effort," said Peter Dunn, the Community Foundation’s President and CEO. "We found this project to be compelling on many levels – not only does it provide basic support services and the promise of educational opportunity to some of our most vulnerable children, but it creates a true incentive for people to reinvest in city neighborhoods, move back into the city and enhance the quality of life in our urban core."
This initiative is expected to create a powerful draw for new companies and also raise the stakes for existing companies considering a move. Attracted by the incentive of free tuition for their children, it is expected that families will be drawn back into the city and its aging housing stock will receive much-needed attention, stabilizing neighborhoods and raising property values.