Say Yes to Education received a $50,000 donation on Monday, which will add to the program’s scholarship fund for participating students.

The added funding is coming from First Niagara Foundation and will be used for Say Yes’ scholarship program, said Pat Driscoll, director of operations at Say Yes in Syracuse.

Say Yes celebrated the event at a middle school in Syracuse, Driscoll said, with an appearance by SU head men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim. In the last two years, Boeheim has donated $20,000 to Say Yes’ summer camp program through the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation.

“(They) have been very supportive of the summer camp program for young people in grades K through the fifth grade,” Driscoll said.

The nationwide nonprofit program came to Syracuse in 2007 and provides financial and academic support for inner-city students. Syracuse was the first citywide implementation of Say Yes.

The nonprofit provides students with a college education by helping to pay for their tuition. Schools such as Cornell University, Dartmouth College and Rice University offer full ride scholarships for students involved in the Say Yes to Education program. It’s partnered with 130 schools across the country, including Syracuse University.

The $50,000 donation is part of the First Niagara Foundation’s Mentoring Matters, a $1 million donation that will also provide funding to mentoring programs in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to a First Niagara news release on Monday. Since 2007, the foundation has provided more than $5.25 million in financial support for mentoring programs.

“Mentoring matters because it can change a young person’s life for the better.  Proven results include better grades and behavior — and improved school attendance, all of which lead to a brighter future,” said Gary Crosby, interim president and CEO of First Niagara, in the release.

Driscoll, Say Yes’ director of operations, said First Niagara Foundation has donated to the scholarship program before, and the $50,000 amount is consistent with the previous donations the foundation has made in the past.

“This highlights the continued collective work that’s going to support young people in our community,” Driscoll said. “We’re grateful to our partners and charitable foundations, and to our corporate leaders.”

In fall 2012, the foundation donated $100,000 to the scholarship program after they were introduced to each other, said David Kavney, First Niagara’s market executive for Central New York. He said the Mentoring Matters grant donates to organizations that First Niagara considers “highly valued, highly effective mentoring programs.”

He said the foundation has been able to directly see the positive effects of its donation by interacting with the students that benefit from the program.

“We’ve observed the results and discovered that it was a highly effective program here in the Syracuse area and decided we wanted to support it again,” he said. “It’s been a great partnership and we think it’s a fantastic program.”

Published on October 29, 2013 at 12:29 am

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