
18 Apr MIAMI RECEIVES $3 MILLION INVESTMENT FROM JPMORGAN CHASE’S ADVANCINGCITIES CHALLENGE
The Miami Foundation and partners will utilize investment to help local residents and small businesses be more resilient to chronic financial stress.
Chicago, Louisville, Miami, San Diego and Syracuse recognized for creative solutions to drive inclusive growth through collaboration between civic, business and community leaders.
JPMorgan Chase today announced Miami as one of five winning cities in its inaugural AdvancingCities Challenge, part of the $500 million, five-year initiative to drive inclusive growth and create greater economic opportunity in cities. The AdvancingCities Challenge awarded $3 million to five U.S. cities, totaling $15 million, which presented cross-cutting approaches to solving entrenched challenges in their communities. The four other winning cities are Chicago, Ill., Louisville, Ky., San Diego, Calif. and Syracuse, N.Y.
The AdvancingCities Challenge launched in September 2018, attracting more than 250 proposals from 143 communities across 45 states and territories. Proposals were required to incorporate at least two of four strategic drivers of inclusive growth within JPMorgan Chase’s Model for Impact: jobs and skills, small business, neighborhood revitalization and financial health.
Winners were announced in conjunction with JPMorgan Chase’s 2018 Corporate Responsibility Report, which showcases the firm’s impact in communities around the world and highlights the Seven Traits of Advancing Cities. The winning cities and programs each demonstrated these key conditions for success that position a city to meaningfully expand opportunity.
The Miami Foundation’s proposal for the AdvancingCities Challenge emerged from the region’s comprehensive and soon-to-be released Resilient305 strategy being co-led by Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami and the city of Miami Beach with support of the Foundation. The Resilient305 strategy will enable Greater Miami and the Beaches (GM&B) to more effectively tackle emerging global challenges and trends such as urbanization, globalization and climate change.
AdvancingCities will fund work focused specifically on training local GM&B residents and businesses to be more resilient to chronic financial stresses, such as lack of access to well-paying jobs and insufficient business opportunities. To achieve this goal, The Miami Foundation will partner with the city of Miami, Health Foundation of South Florida, Florida International University and other government, university, and nonprofit partners to integrate efforts of service providers to increase access to quality jobs and work with anchor institutions to connect small businesses to procurement opportunities.
“Beating out 250 cities for the JPMorgan Chase AdvancingCities Challenge is a testament to how we are positioning Miami to create a true pathway to prosperity for all,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “With this commitment, we can unlock crucial resources for small businesses, the backbone of our economy, driving economic growth and fostering a more inclusive business environment that reflects Miami’s values as a city of diversity and opportunity.”
“Building a resilient community requires everyone—across the public sector, private sector and non-profit community—to come to the table and work toward a shared purpose of greater economic opportunity,” said Janis Bowdler, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. “Resilient 305 is notable in the breadth of its partners and the strong collaborations across numerous governments, anchor institutions, non-profits and more to ensure that all Miamians have a chance to share in economic growth.”
According to the group, fragmented small business and workforce ecosystems are creating a lag in job growth at small businesses, high poverty levels and a workforce pipeline that is disconnected from the businesses that need skilled employees. Currently, Miami is ranked fourth in the nation when it comes to factors that contribute to income inequality.
“This regional effort under AdvancingCities marks a significant milestone for Greater Miami,” said Javier Alberto Soto, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation. “It’s an opportunity to unite and create solutions that will connect more people with jobs and small businesses with critical resources to prosper.”
About AdvancingCities:
AdvancingCities is a $500 million initiative that combines the firm’s lending capital, philanthropic capital and expertise to make investments in cities. The program consists of two key features, the AdvancingCities Challenge and large-scale investments in cities where the conditions exist for success such as Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Paris. AdvancingCities is also collecting insights, developing research and best practices, and driving peer-learning to ensure the benefits of these investments are shared with other cities. Based on the firm’s previous experience, JPMorgan Chase expects its $500 million AdvancingCities investment to attract an additional $1 billion in outside capital at a ratio of 4:1, resulting in a total of $1.5 billion directed to efforts that will increase inclusive growth in cities.
Criteria for AdvancingCities Investments:
Investments through the AdvancingCities Challenge will drive solutions and help break down silos between local programs, strengthen underlying systems and advance holistic solutions to create more widely-shared prosperity. The cities will also have access to a wide array of JPMorgan Chase resources, including data and research, employee expertise, and global network. Based on learnings from past investments, AdvancingCities is making investments in cities that demonstrate a collaborative approach to the following:
- Commitment to tackling barriers to economic opportunity and upward mobility;
- Innovative strategies that make measurable progress to solve challenges related to inclusive growth;
- Presence of high-capacity nonprofits and government entities and strong engagement from the business community working together to implement solutions;
- Alignment between the future challenges and opportunities in the city and JPMorgan Chase’s four philanthropic areas of focus; and
- Opportunities to use the firm’s data, employee expertise and business lending capital to create sustainable solutions.
To learn more about AdvancingCities and the other AdvancingCities Challenge Winners, visit www.jpmorganchase.com/advancingcities
About JPMorgan Chase & Co.:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
8 Comments