The Greenwood Initiative
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative is a philanthropic effort that seeks to create wealth-building opportunities for those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution and address systemic underinvestment in historically Black institutions. Systemic barriers to wealth-building activities — including access to higher education, acquisition of housing and land, and business ownership — narrow opportunities for full economic participation. The lasting effects are profound; today, the typical Black family has one-eighth of the wealth of the typical White family. Without bold intervention, this unacceptable status quo will continue to persist.
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Mike presented a policy agenda to tackle this wealth disparity. He called the policy agenda the Greenwood Initiative in remembrance of the hundreds killed in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood during the 1921 race massacre there. The name also acknowledges how structural racism has prevented Black communities and families from building wealth for centuries. When he ended his campaign, Mike decided he’d continue to pursue the aims of Greenwood through philanthropy and asked his team at Bloomberg Philanthropies to identify ways to make a difference. From there, the current iteration of the Greenwood Initiative was born.
Recent News
Using Data to Tackle the Wealth Gap
At Bloomberg, we believe in facts and data.
In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative announced the creation of the Black Wealth Data Center (BWDC). The data platform is a go-to resource for practitioners and policymakers working to address wealth disparities, making relevant data available so they can develop and implement effective programs and policies to help ensure more Americans can achieve the American Dream.
Major Investments in Historically Black Medical Schools
In August 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a new $600 million gift to bolster the endowments and support the financial sustainability of the nation’s four Historically Black Medical Schools: Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. An additional $5 million in seed funding was announced to support the creation of the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, a new medical school in New Orleans founded by Xavier University of Louisiana, a Historically Black University with a strong track record of sending graduates into the medical field, and Ochsner Health. This gift builds upon Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative’s 2020 gift of $100 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which reduced the burden of debt for nearly 1,000 future doctors.
Expanding Access to STEM Fields
The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative, a $150 million investment, was launched at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to address historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and prepare a new generation of researchers and scholars to assume leadership roles in tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges. The initiative is named for Vivien Thomas, a renowned Black scientist who helped develop the Blalock-Taussig shunt — a cardiac surgery technique to treat blue baby syndrome — at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1940s. This gift provides permanent funding for a sustained cohort of PhD students in JHU’s more than 30 STEM programs.
Increasing COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts to Ensure Greater Access within Underserved Communities
In April 2021, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced an investment of over $6 million in support of COVID-19 vaccine operations run by the nation’s four Historically Black Medical Schools — Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science — via mobile vaccine services to ensure greater access in their communities of Nashville, TN, Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, and Los Angeles, CA. With a clear disparity between white and Black vaccine rates across the United States, the schools’ mobile units reached the most at-risk populations and worked with trusted partners, such as churches and senior centers, to set up temporary vaccination sites.
Supporting Local Efforts to Build Wealth
Since 2012, Bloomberg Philanthropies has supported the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) in partnering with local governments to assess and define local priorities for improving their residents’ economic well-being. Through collaboration on programs including Financial Empowerment Cities and the CityStart initiative, local leaders get tools and data to identify asset-building opportunities and to help create pathways for intergenerational wealth within their communities.
Expanding Economic Opportunity
In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered with the Brooklyn Community Foundation and the Gray Foundation to support NYC Kids RISE (NYCKR) – a community wealth building program that provides families, schools, and communities with ways to invest in and save for their children’s futures. The public-private partnership seeks to enable communities to work together to build assets to support the educational and economic success of every child.
Top photo: Howard University College of Medicine student Micah Brown is one of the many future doctors who will have had their futures changed by a $100 million commitment to the United States’ four historically Black medical schools.