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To date, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative has committed $896 million to advance racial wealth equity. With each new program, we look for opportunities to act as connectors, conveners, supporters, and investors in building a more equitable future. In recent weeks, we have demonstrated the potential for short- and long-term impact we can have alongside partners across the country.
From providing leaders with data and tools that inform their efforts to promote intergenerational wealth for local residents, to investing in the institutions that will train the next generation of Black scholars and doctors: we all stand to gain from building wealth and well-being in a more equitable fashion.
The following milestones have shown the powerful impact we can have together:
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The Continued Impact of the Largest-Ever Investment in Historically Black Medical Schools
In August, we shared that Mike Bloomberg announced a $600 million investment in the nation’s four historically Black medical schools — Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine — and an additional $5 million grant to support the creation of a new medical school, Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, founded by Xavier University of Louisiana.
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On August 6, 2024, Michael R. Bloomberg announced the $600 million investment to the historically Black medical schools at the National Medical Association's Annual Convention.
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Our landmark investment was covered in media outlets across the country, from local news to national outlets like The New York Times, Essence, and MSNBC’s The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart. Through the investment, we hoped to start new conversations about healthcare inequities and inspire more contributions.
After our gift, Meharry Medical College received an anonymous $20 million donation. We were also pleased to join in the celebration of Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice’s 10-year anniversary in her role. She took the opportunity to speak about the importance of fundraising, as well as her personal passion for training the next, more diverse generation of doctors.
The conversation around and work of health and racial wealth equity continues.
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Members of the Greenwood Initiative team alongside Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, President of Morehouse School of Medicine, following the announcement of the gift.
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Celebrating the Third Cohort of Vivien Thomas Scholars
Last month, we welcomed a third cohort of Vivien Thomas Scholars at Johns Hopkins University. This initiative provides funding to PhD scholars across more than 30 programs to address historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
In three years, the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative — one of the first investments made by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative — has grown to more than 50 PhD scholars.
Investing in these talented scholars is a powerful wealth-building strategy. They will go on to become leaders in their fields, generating cutting-edge research, technology, and innovation. Their work will improve the lives of the scholars who come after them and all those who stand to benefit from the advancements they make in their fields.
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The third cohort of Vivien Thomas Scholars.
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Finding Pathways to Equity at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference
From Vision to Victory: Amplifying Black Voices was the rallying cry of CBCF’s 53rd Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., as policymakers, business leaders, and community advocates came together to address the persistent economic challenges faced by Black people in the U.S.
I had many opportunities to share about the important role philanthropy plays in advancing racial wealth equity, and the ways that the Greenwood Initiative has grown over the years, including launching and supporting the Black Wealth Data Center (BWDC) and our most recent investments. The BWDC team was also onsite, sharing interactive, actionable data around Black wealth.
After a week of thought-provoking conversations, the question top-of-mind for me is: How do we transform our vision of a more equitable future into a victory that is experienced within Black families, communities and institutions?
As Congressman Steven Horsford, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said regarding the opportunity ahead of us, “When I talk about wealth… I’m talking about the single mom in my district who wants to have a stake, who wants to build equity for herself so she can start her business. She needs access to capital to pass that down to her child.”
“That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about work, wages, and wealth, and an opportunity economy that works for everybody.”
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Garnesha Ezediaro at CBCF’s 53rd Annual Legislative Conference, discussing the important role philanthropy plays in advancing racial wealth equity.
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Members of the Greenwood Initiative and the Black Wealth Data Center teams were both onsite at CBCF’s 53rd Annual Legislative Conference.
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There is no silver bullet to building Black wealth. Instead, we see many areas of opportunity where we can have an impact: offering financial literacy education for disadvantaged communities; building policies that create access to prosperity opportunities like home ownership for Black people in the U.S.; investing in the right partners to foster wealth-building initiatives, and more.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ mission is to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. Our work to accelerate wealth equity and improve the lives of Black individuals and families, among others, continues.
Sincerely,
Garnesha Ezediaro
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