A new $250 million communitywide public-private partnership to advance racial equity in Charlotte was announced Nov. 1 at a gathering of community members and civic leaders at Johnson C. Smith University. During the event, $80 million from the City of Charlotte and other public sources, $97 million in private philanthropy, and $19 million in low-return debt and equity were announced, for a total of $196 million toward the $250 million goal.
Of the quarter-of-a-billion dollars the initiative seeks to raise, 84% will be in the form of philanthropic gifts and grants, as well as public dollars. Sixteen percent will be comprised of low-return debt and equity for investments in Charlotte’s six corridors of opportunity. Philanthropic grants will also be made in these corridors.
“The issues we face as a community are bigger, broader and more deep-seated than any one organization can address alone,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “We need a significant commitment and investment from the private sector to complement and build upon the work being done by the public sector, the community and grassroots organizations. The vision for this effort is to establish a public-private partnership for achieving racial equity, social justice, economic opportunity and upward mobility. The response from our corporate partners surpassed even what I could have expected, and we have set a new standard for an American city. We will celebrate today’s milestone as we continue together on this critical path to opportunity and equity for all of Charlotte.”
The newly announced Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative looks to invest $250 million to address inequities and remove barriers to opportunity through four key workstreams: bridging the digital divide and establishing a Center for Digital Equity; investing in Charlotte’s six “Corridors of Opportunity” neighborhoods; transforming JCSU into a top-tier, career-focused HBCU; and ensuring organizations commit to racial equity through advancing more Black and Brown leaders within their individual corporations.
The Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC) answered the initial call from Mayor Lyles for a corporate response following the murder of George Floyd and other events in 2020 that exposed longstanding racial inequities. A corporate response team was established, led by Janet LaBar, president and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, and Malcomb Coley, Charlotte managing partner of EY. LaBar and Coley led the four workstreams, working with more than 90 business and community representatives over the past 18 months on initiative development.
“These four initiatives will forever change Charlotte for the better,” LaBar said.
Coley, who will serve as 2022 chair of the CLT Alliance, and Mike Lamach, current chair of CELC, will serve as co-chairs of two oversight boards that will review benchmarks and authorize the distribution of dollars to each workstream, periodically, to maximize accountability.
A lead private-sector gift of $40 million from The Duke Endowment will be directed to the Johnson C. Smith University workstream.In addition to The Duke Endowment’s $40 million pledge, other private-sector contributions announced Monday towards the campaign include: $25 million from Bank of America; $10 million from Lowe’s; $8 million from Truist; $6.1 million from Atrium Health; $5.7 million from Queens University of Charlotte; $5 million each from Ally Financial and Ric Elias; $3 million from Novant Health and Duke Energy; $1 million each from CLT2020 Host Committee, EY, the Michael Jordan Family/the Charlotte Hornets Foundation (a combined gift), National Gypsum/CD Spangler Foundation (a combined gift) and Trane Technologies; $500,000 from Mary and Mike Lamach; and $220,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
From the public sector, the City of Charlotte committed $72 million and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library committed $8 million.
“The business community is here, committed and ready to lead change,” LaBar said. “This is transformation at work; this is how we help close the wealth gap.”
Foundation For The Carolinas is leading fundraising efforts, and the money raised will be held in a fund at the Foundation. In addition to the $196 million raised to date for the campaign, several million dollars more in commitments were announced for racial equity efforts outside the campaign.
For more information on the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative, visit www.EquityCLT.org.
