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The Cleveland Foundation is giving $40 million to the city鈥檚 Say Yes to Education tuition-assistance fund 鈥� the largest gift in the philanthropic group鈥檚 105-year history.

Local Say Yes to Education organizers say they have raised $92 million out of the $125 million endowment needed to help Cleveland Metropolitan School District students afford college and other post-secondary schooling over the next 25 years.  

鈥淲e think it鈥檚 the most important thing we can do for Cleveland. We have to grow our workforce for the future,鈥� said Cleveland Foundation CEO Ronn Richard. 鈥淲e need these kids to succeed for themselves, for their families, and for Cleveland.鈥�

Richard points out the scholarships are not only for college tuition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 for whatever a child wants to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o if they want to be a welder, they want to be a carpenter, they want to be an electrician, it will fund any career technical education program in addition to college and so no one鈥檚 being left out.鈥�

CMSD joined the New York-based Say Yes to Education nonprofit in January and provided tuition assistance to some 850 Cleveland students from the class of 2019. This year, CMSD also began providing wraparound services supported by Say Yes at 16 schools. The group plans to have its programs in all of the city鈥檚 public school by the 2022-23 academic year.

Say Yes could be transformative for Cleveland, Richard says he believes, helping to attract people back to Cleveland鈥檚 neighborhoods and its city core. He says the scholarships can help build a culture of attending college or other post-secondary education.

鈥淚 think that candidly, a lot of parents in the past didn鈥檛 emphasize college to their children because they didn鈥檛 think they could afford it, and they didn鈥檛 want their child to work hard, get into college, and not be able to go. They didn鈥檛 want to break their hearts,鈥� Richard said. 鈥淣ow we have to reverse that trend and make sure that everyone knows that college or a trade is in their future for sure. They don鈥檛 have to worry about funding it.鈥�

According to Say Yes Cleveland, the scholarship endowment fund also received a $10 million gift from the George Gund Foundation and $10 million from KeyBank Foundation.

The Cleveland Foundation says its commitment to Say Yes is four times the amount of the foundation鈥檚 previous single largest grant of $10 million, but Richard notes it will not affect the organization鈥檚 normal grant making.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to give less to the arts or other educational institutions or social service institutions because we made this historically large grant for Say Yes to Education,鈥� said Richard.

He says he hopes the gift will inspire others to give as Say Yes works to raise the remaining $33 million to reach its goal.