Bloomberg Gives Millions to Black Colleges

Bloomberg Philanthropies is giving $600 million to the endowments of four historically Black medical schools. The four schools are the Howard University College of Medicine, the Meharry Medical College, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science.

The medical schools at Howard, Meharry, and Morehouse will each receive a gift of $175 million, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science will receive $75 million. In addition, the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, an HBCU medical school being developed in New Orleans, will receive a $5 million seed grant.

According to the announcement, the new commitment represents the largest single gift the schools have ever received. It will be used to help shore up their financial stability and build their capacity to keep down the costs of tuition, conduct innovative research, and support the training of the next generation of doctors, thereby diversifying the medical field.