ESD announces $20M in funding to complete Say Yes to Education fundraising campaign

The Say Yes to Education program has reached its $30 million goal to make it a “self-perpetuating” fund, thanks to a state funding announcement on Tuesday.

Empire State Development (ESD) on Tuesday night announced $20 million for an endowment program that supports the Say Yes program, providing free college tuition to every graduating student in the Syracuse City School District.

ESD awarded the funding to the Central New York regional economic-development council as part of the region’s $500 million win in Gov. Cuomo’s economic-development contest.

The $20 million announcement completes the endowment drive and makes it a “self-perpetuating fund,” ESD said.

Over the last seven years, the endowment was able to raise $10 million in donations in an effort that began as a community-based initiative aiming to secure $30 million from individual and corporate donors.

SLDC bond fees
It wasn’t the only announcement benefiting the Say Yes program on Tuesday.

The endowment fund will also benefit from the fees collected when the Syracuse Local Development Corporation (SLDC) issues bonds to finance an upcoming expansion project at Crouse Hospital.

The SLDC will issue more than $42 million in bonds to support the Crouse project, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The agency will then donate the proceeds from the 1 percent fee involved in the bond issuance to the Say Yes to Education endowment.

The SLDC will issue about $42.6 million in tax-exempt, multi-modal revenue bonds for Crouse Hospital to undertake a 53,700-square-foot renovation of its existing emergency services department.

The project also involves a 12,000-square-foot addition to the Witting Surgical Center to house mechanical equipment and an emergency department observation suite.

The funds will also help support the renovation of the Memorial Building medical/surgical unit and the renovation of the existing intensive-care unit suite.

The SLDC contribution will complete the local match needed for the Say Yes program to receive a $5 million contribution from SRC, Inc., according to Miner’s office.

Cicero–based SRC in 2011 said it would match gifts made to endow permanently Say Yes scholarships up to $5 million, according to the Say Yes Syracuse website.

The nonprofit Central New York Community Foundation manages the Say Yes to Education endowment fund.

Say Yes Syracuse is the local chapter of Say Yes to Education, a New York City–based nonprofit education foundation “committed to dramatically increasing high school and college graduation rates for our nation’s urban youth,” the Say Yes website says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com