The Greenwood Initiative: Investing in Black America

In late 2018, Mike Bloomberg went to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to announce the city had won the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, honoring the neighborhood of Greenwood – once known as “Black Wall Street”, and the site of the tragic 1921 Tulsa Race massacre. He was moved by the story of how a predominantly Black neighborhood had become one of the country’s most prosperous communities and was shocked and angered to know that its destruction at the hands of a racist mob had been whitewashed from US history books.

During his campaign for president, Mike announced an ambitious plan to accelerate the pace of wealth accumulation for Black individuals and families, and address decades of underinvestment in these communities. In remembrance of the massacre, and in recognition of how racism has prevented Black families from building wealth, the plan was named the Greenwood Initiative.

The plan’s objectives have now carried over to Bloomberg Philanthropies, where the Greenwood team is working to deliver economic justice and increase generational wealth for Black communities by addressing systematic disparities and making strategic investments across the United States.

The Greenwood Initiative seeks to:

• Strengthen Black families’ opportunity to own assets and to reduce debt
• Network leaders to prioritize and accelerate an economic equity agenda
• Drive equitable transfer of Black wealth across generations

The initiative’s first major investment was an historic, $100 million gift to America’s four historically Black medical schools: Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN, Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, CA. Bloomberg Philanthropies’ gift to the medical schools will allow them to provide debt relief up to $100,000 to approximately 800 medical students who are currently enrolled and receiving financial aid over the next four years.

This is the largest-ever individual philanthropic gift received by these medical schools, and it helps to address the connection between Black health and wealth, the dearth of Black doctors in America, and the disproportionate financial burden Black medical students face.

See what students from America’s four historically Black medical schools have to say about the impact of this gift.

Employee commitment

The work of Bloomberg Philanthropies is guided by Mike Bloomberg’s vision, and it’s made possible by the work — and activism — of colleagues at Bloomberg LP. 

Bloomberg has long offered ways for employees to use their skills in support of causes they care about, like mentoring the next generation through Youth about Business, Seizing Every Opportunity (SEO), and the Chicago-based Greenwood Project — programs that provide more access to dynamic and emerging fields in finance and business. Bloomberg also supports the development of diverse tech talent through the Diversity Recruiting team’s Bloomberg Engineering Student Training, or B.E.S.T. program. B.E.S.T. helps computer science students at HBCUs prepare for technical interviews, and build and broaden their relationships and soft skills.

But the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on people of color, demanded new action.

In May 2020, Bloomberg launched a dedicated internal campaign in response, matching every employee donation toward social justice causes dollar for dollar. The employee response was staggering, and the campaign quickly became the most active campaign to date, with hundreds of thousands raised by employees toward NAACP, Equal Justice Initiative, My Brother’s Keeper, and dozens of nonprofits that are shrinking the systemic gaps in access to arts and education.

For more information on the Greenwood Initiative, visit Bloomberg.org. Learn more about Bloomberg LP’s efforts to recruit, support, and advance Black professionals in the workplace.

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