Story & Mission

In 2009, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, The John R. Oishei Foundation and local business leaders began discussing ideas for how to improve the local economy by improving educational outcomes for low-income students.

In 2010, a Steering Group composed of business and foundation leaders was formed to investigate the opportunity costs associated with different approaches. They focused primarily on existing efforts being undertaken with success in cities with challenges similar to those in Buffalo. Programs such as the Kalamazoo Promise that centered on providing “promise scholarships” funded by the local business community to incentivize high school graduation and support college access and completion quickly rose to the top. Shortly thereafter, the Steering Group learned about the work that Say Yes to Education was doing in partnership with the Syracuse City School District. Based on their 25-year track record of improving educational outcomes for urban students, the Say Yes approach in Syracuse combined a promise scholarship program with the creation of a comprehensive system of K-12 student and family support. Taken together, these two pieces both removed barriers to student success and high school graduation while also providing the means and support for those students to be successful in a postsecondary setting (be it a trade, two-year, or four-year institution).

In 2011, the Buffalo Steering Group began informal fundraising for a promise scholarship program. In addition, the school district, local elected officials, business leaders, teachers, administrators, parents, and higher education were engaged and committed to working collaboratively to strengthen the public schools in Buffalo and increase supports for students and families.

As a result of the success of the initial scholarship fundraising campaign (which raised $13 million in eight months) coupled with the Buffalo community’s demonstrated commitment to working together, after a competitive process Say Yes to Education selected Buffalo as its next city in December 2011. With this came a commitment from Say Yes of $15 million in funding and technical support for school improvements and the development of a system of comprehensive support.

When it was launched in December 2011, Say Yes Buffalo became the second Say Yes chapter to partner with an entire city school district. Say Yes has operated chapters in Cambridge, MA; Hartford, CT; New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA and Syracuse, NY. The newest Say Yes Chapter was announced.

Students with free T-shirts and pom-poms, reacting to the notion of free college education for all during the official announcement of free college tuition for Buffalo Public School grads at a rally at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts on, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. {Photo by Robert Kirkham / Buffalo News}

The groundwork for what the multifaceted organization Say Yes Buffalo would one day become was laid in 2012 with the hiring of Executive Director David Rust. Rust’s leadership, focused to collective impact and partnership, was instrumental in building the identity of Say Yes Buffalo. 2012 also marked the foundation of what would become the organization’s largest program area: school-based services. 

The first class of Buffalo students to receive the support of the Say Yes scholarship graduated and entered higher education in 2013.

Meanwhile, Say Yes Buffalo continued to add more programming and partners to support Buffalo families with the guiding principle of opening doors for more students to take advantage of the promise of a full-tuition scholarship for all eligible Buffalo students. The programs launched in these years included school-based legal clinics, mental health clinics, after school and summer programming.

In 2016, Say Yes Buffalo was chosen to manage Buffalo Public Schools Community Schools Initiative, a program which has grown in scope and popularity featuring free and open-to-all Saturday and evening programming revolving around health and wellness, academic enrichment, adult education, access to basic needs and food support, and community events. Today, the dynamic program serves 21 Buffalo school communities.

Also in 2016, school-based services transitioned into a fruitful partnership with Child & Family Services which was instrumental in solidifying the role of Family Support Specialists embedded in school communities and buildings.

The year also marked the foundation of the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship Endowment Fund, a multiyear campaign seeded by a $25M challenge grant from an anonymous donor to build a fund that could support Buffalo students in perpetuity.

In 2017, our first cohort of scholarship recipients completed four-year degrees. To better assist our scholars pursuing careers, we launched our first workforce development initiative, the Internships and Career Pathways program. 

In 2018, we received a $10M investment in the Scholarship Endowment Fund from New York State, and launched the leadership and mentorship program for young men of color known as Breaking Barriers. 

These momentous years marked the foundation of two program areas on either end of the cradle-to-career continuum spelled out in our mission statement. The first being the formation of Say Yes Little Scholars, an innovative, full-day program for three-year-olds free to qualifying families and situated in Buffalo Public Schools receiving additional child care support from Erie County Department of Social Services. The second was the launch of CareerWise Greater Buffalo, an earn-while-you-learn modern youth apprenticeship program that recruited Buffalo high school seniors into positions with leading area employers. 

In 2022, Say Yes Buffalo also completed moving its office from the Theater District to the Jefferson Avenue corridor on the city’s East Side.