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726 Exchange Street, Suite 510
Buffalo, NY 14210 USA

T 716 856 9490
F 716 856 9493
info@oishei.org

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Strengthen the P-20 Education Continuum

Improving access to education is one of the most effective ways to change lives and strengthen communities for the long term. Education opens up opportunities, and empowers people to earn more, raise healthier families, and achieve their fullest potential year after year.

At The John R. Oishei Foundation, we support best practices and partners across the entire P-20 continuum (from prenatal through early adulthood). We believe that all students should enter school ready to learn, be able to successfully graduate from college or post-secondary programs, and be prepared to enter the workforce.

Our Education focus area is typically our largest investment area. Our support begins at the preschool level as we fund early childhood programs such as Buffalo Promise Neighborhood and Read to Succeed Buffalo. The Foundation was instrumental in attracting Say Yes to Education to Buffalo and has continued to provide support for the scholarship program as well as for the critical wraparound services that help students to thrive.

In addition, our dollars fund scholarships for elementary school students to attend private or parochial schools through the Bison Fund, and through our Oishei Scholarships, which make a private high school education possible for students of color who have a financial need.


Strategic Objectives

  1. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from cradle to career to strengthen the education pipeline.

  2. Build connections across the education system and with outside partners to enhance the education pathway with seamless points of transition.

  3. Strengthen the capacity of providers to address the complex challenges facing students and their families.

  4. Enhance training, leadership development, and engagement opportunities for teachers and parents to increase professional development and collaboration.

  5. Share best practices and create mutual advocacy platforms to strengthen opportunities for learning and encourage policy change.

 

We invest approximately one-third of our total funding in education.

 



Scholarship Programs

As part of our ongoing commitment to strengthening the education continuum, The John R. Oishei Foundation works with our community partners to fund life-changing scholarship programs from elementary school through college.

Our dollars fund scholarships for elementary school students to attend private or parochial schools through the Bison Fund. Through our Oishei High School Scholarship program we have awarded more than $13 million to 350 students in partnership with the Education Collaborative of WNY (EdCO) over the program’s 23 year history. These full-tuition scholarships are awarded to talented, dedicated students of color who have demonstrated financial need, enabling them to attend one of 13 private high schools. Our goal is to make a positive difference in the perception, attitudes, and lives of students, their families, and the people at the academic institutions the students attend. 

We also provide college scholarships through Say Yes and our own Oishei College Scholarship program for underrepresented students of color with extraordinary financial need, managed by the Community Foundation. 

HOW TO APPLY FOR A GRANT

HOW TO APPLY FOR A GRANT

Find out which organizations and programs are eligible for grants, see if we are the right partner for your organization, and learn how to apply for a grant.

Gerard Place: Helping to Break the Cycle of Poverty

Gerard Place: Helping to Break the Cycle of Poverty

Gerard Place strives to break the cycle of poverty by providing support and housing for single-parent families who are experiencing homelessness, poverty and/or domestic/substance abuse, primarily in the Bailey-Delavan area.

The Oishei High School Scholarship Program

The Oishei High School Scholarship Program

Scholarships are available for talented students of color with a financial need to attend a local private high school 

The John R. Oishei Foundation
|726 Exchange Street, Suite 510 Buffalo, NY 14210 USA
| T 716 856 9490 F 716 856 9493
|info@oishei.org

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© 2023 The John R. Oishei Foundation |Photos By Get Fokus’d Productions

726 Exchange Street, Suite 510
Buffalo, NY 14210 USA

T 716 856 9490
F 716 856 9493
info@oishei.org

The John R. Oishei Foundation is an entirely separate entity from the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital and we are unable to answer any inquiries made to the Children’s Hospital, The Children’s Hospital Foundation or Kaleida Health. To contact the hospital, please click here.

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