Creating wealth for Black people and communities starts at the local level

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Bloomberg Philanthropies — Greenwood Initiative

A message to the community from Garnesha Ezediaro

John,

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Jonathan Mintz of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund), and local leaders to announce the comprehensive Financial Freedom Blueprint for Cincinnati residents which prioritizes racial wealth equity.

Read Blueprint Here

Why It Matters:

Creating wealth for Black people and communities starts at the local level. One of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative’s strategic priorities is to equip city leaders with access to the tools and data needed to effectively combat racial wealth inequity head on.

That’s why we invested in the CFE Fund’s CityStart initiative -- a yearlong process during which municipal leaders received a $75,000 planning grant from CFE Fund to engage their residents, conduct research, and use the insights uncovered to create wealth building solutions.

In Cincinnati, the Mayor’s Office and City Administration used their grant to develop the Cincinnati Financial Freedom Blueprint that aims to address racial wealth inequities by ensuring every resident in Cincinnati has the opportunity to achieve financial freedom through asset ownership. The blueprint outlines a $2 million investment toward new programs from the city that would not have been possible without the deep engagement of Cincinnati’s residents during the planning period to ensure their needs were met.

Moving Forward:

One of the main avenues the Greenwood Initiative uses to accelerate wealth generation is collaboration with local leaders across the U.S.

Cincinnati was one of three cities, along with Mobile, AL and South Bend, IN that was selected to be part of CityStart’s first cohort specifically focused on racial wealth equity. South Bend recently announced their own blueprint this year and earlier this year, we announced eight additional cities as part of the second cohort: Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; Monroe, LA; Newark, NJ; Norfolk, VA; Rocky Mount, NC; Sacramento, CA; and Tallahassee/Leon County, FL.

Stay tuned for more updates on Cincinnati’s transformative journey learn more about our work here.

Sincerely,
Garnesha Ezediaro

Greenwood Initiative

25 E 78th St

New York, NY 10075-0102

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