Say Yes to Education has announced a $15 million commitment to newly launched Say Yes Buffalo, which aims to provide free afterschool and summer programming, counseling, legal services, health care, and other supports to students in Buffalo Public Schools. In addition, the organization received a three-year, $4.2 million grant from the Wallace Foundation in support of its first city-wide initiative, Say Yes Syracuse.

Say Yes to Education, a national nonprofit education foundation, works to increase high school and college graduation rates among urban youth. In Buffalo, the organization is working with western New York business and foundation leaders to fund scholarships for BPS students covering up to 100 percent of their tuition at a State University of New York-system postsecondary institution. The class of 2013 will be the first class eligible for the scholarships. The organization's commitment includes financial and in-kind support from the Wallace Foundation and the American Institutes for Research to bolster planning, research, and evaluation efforts.

In Syracuse, the organization is working to bring together all sectors involved in the well-being of children and families by targeting improvements in postsecondary completion, partnering with a higher education institute, and providing transparency, sustainable fiscal management, and a collaborative governance model. The majority of the Wallace grant, some $3.75 million, will support Say Yes's work in the community, including the creation of a model guidebook and turnaround tool kit.

"We are pleased to invest in Say Yes to Education as one of a group of leading national organizations that are developing promising models of expanding the school day or year in ways that help students in urban schools achieve," said Wallace Foundation president Will Miller. "These efforts share a common commitment to high-quality instructional programming and using data to inform their work."