The initiative, which will receive $10 million from each organization, aims to leverage HBCUs' institutional expertise and community trust to expand access to high-quality public education while creating pathways to college and career success. UNCF will serve as a key partner in advancing the effort.
The announcement extends Bloomberg Philanthropies' long-standing commitment to supporting HBCUs, particularly in medical education. In recent years, the organization has invested millions of dollars in HBCU medical schools, recognizing their critical role in addressing healthcare disparities and training physicians who serve underserved communities. Bloomberg Philanthropies has provided major funding to institutions including Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, and Howard University College of Medicine, supporting initiatives ranging from student debt relief to faculty development and research infrastructure.
The new K-12 charter school initiative builds on this foundation by creating educational pipelines that could eventually lead students to these same HBCU medical schools and other higher education programs. By establishing connections between elementary and secondary education and HBCU campuses, the partnerships aim to introduce students early to college and career possibilities, including healthcare professions where Black Americans remain significantly underrepresented.
Two Alabama charter schools are already operating under the new model. I Dream Big Academy, Tuscaloosa's first tuition-free charter school, opened in August in partnership with Stillman College, currently serving grades 6-8 with plans to add a grade annually. The school will function as a lab school for teacher development and provide early college access opportunities.
D.C. Wolfe Charter School in Shorter, Alabama, formerly D.C. Wolfe Elementary School, will reopen in fall 2026 as a conversion charter school serving pre-K through sixth grade in partnership with Tuskegee University.
"HBCUs are natural partners in this work—they've been engines of excellence and innovation for generations, and these partnerships represent exactly the kind of bold, locally-driven solutions that can help improve entire city school systems," said Marlon Marshall, CEO of City Fund.
