Students at Morehouse School Of Medicine (MSM) were surprised this morning to find out that some, if not all, of their student loan debt, had been paid off.
Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mike Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization, donated a surprise $26 million gifts to students at MSM who are on financial aid. Each student will get about $100,000.
“This historic investment in the Morehouse School of Medicine will lift the crushing burden of student debt and empower our graduates to take on the systemic racial inequities and injustice that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Dean and President of MSM Valerie Montgomery Rice.
“These dollars will help free up future doctors to immediately head to the front lines and save Black lives while also improving healthcare access, equity, and quality for everyone,” she added.
The $26 million dollar gift is a part of a $100 million fund that is spread across four historically Black medical schools. Over the next four years, the remaining amount will be spread across other historically Black medical schools including Charles R. Drew University of Medicine (Los Angeles), Howard University College of Medicine (Washington, D.C.), and Meharry Medical College (Nashville).
The gift is a part of an initiative that Bloomberg started during his presidential run. The “Greenwood Initiative” is supposed to help create more generational wealth amongst Black Families. “More Black doctors will mean more Black lives saved, and fewer health problems that limit economic opportunity,” said Bloomberg.
“During my campaign for president, I proposed a bold set of policies — which we called the Greenwood Initiative — to shrink the racial wealth gap. Today’s commitment by Bloomberg Philanthropies is just the first step we will take to bring that work to life.”
Earlier this year, Morehouse College, which is right down the street from MSM, was one of four HBCU’s that received $200 million from Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott. Just last year, Robert F. Smith paid off the student loans for the graduating class at Morehouse.
