*Goldman Sachs announced last year that the financial services company will invest $10 billion in an initiative called “One Million Black Women.” Goldman Sachs Global Head of Corporate Engagement Asahi Pompey recently told Yahoo Finance Live at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the company has “made about a billion dollars of investments so far.”
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We launched about a year ago, a $10 billion commitment, on top of that $100 million in philanthropic capital, to improve the lives of at least a million Black women over the next decade,” Pompey said.
We reported previously that CEO David Solomon told Essence in an exclusive that the OMBW initiative will support Black women over the next 10 years through healthcare, jobs, and education.
“Given all that’s happened over the course of the last year, we’ve done a lot of talking at the firm—and even more listening—to help us figure out how we can do more to end the racial inequity and the gaps that have existed in society for well too long,” Solomon said. “What we’re trying to do is to set up the infrastructure, the commitment, and the resources to have something that’s sustainable over a long period of time to really make a difference,” he explained.
Solomon added: “If after six months from now people are going to say, ‘Okay, where’s the beef,’ the response is going to be, ‘We’re just getting started.’ There’s a tendency with these things for companies to make an announcement and then for it to fade away,” Solomon continued. “If we had said $500 million, we would have done some good things for a year, but it wouldn’t have the tangible impact that we’re really trying to have… Impact comes with sustained effort over a long period of time. We’re very prepared for that.”
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“On the philanthropic side, it’s really around a number of things around the pillars of healthcare, education, access to capital, closing the digital divide that we all know is more important than ever,” explained Pompey, who. is also president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. “And so, really making investments in those seven pillars, as well as our philanthropic grants and commitments.”
Per MSN, “Black women in the United States are paid 35% less than white men and 15% less than white women. The bank estimates that closing the earnings gapwould add 1.2 million jobs to the economy and add an estimated $300 billion to U.S. GDP per year.”
“What Goldman Sachs is doing has the potential to materially impact the lives of Black women, their families and communities across the country,” said Melanie Campbell, a partner with Goldman Sachs on the program, in the statement.
“Black women have always been a force in our communities and are now emerging even more with the power and position they deserve,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, who also sits on the One Million Black Women Advisory Council. “They are voters and drivers of consumer tastes. Black women are also drivers of culture, including fashion, music, and the arts, and now are making an undeniable impact on politics.”
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