Building on lessons learned in the aftermaths of September 11th, the 2008 financial crisis, and Hurricane Sandy, Bloomberg Philanthropies moved quickly to launch a series of efforts to address pressing needs, such as supporting nonprofits struggling with revenue shortfalls, feeding frontline hospital workers, mitigating the impacts on the development of lower-income youth, and reducing the infection rate of COVID-19 through contact tracing.

• Through a partnership with World Central Kitchen, Bloomberg Philanthropies provided more than one million meals to NYC Health + Hospital employees.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies, along with a group of other foundations, helped raise more than $110 million from more than 1,300 donors to provide more than 800 grants and no-interest loans to small and mid-sized nonprofits in New York City.

• As the pandemic limited options for safe outdoor activity during the summer, Bloomberg Philanthropies, along with the Ford Foundation and The JPB Foundation, helped The Fresh Air Fund provide 26,000 children from low-income communities across New York City with safe, supervised recreational activity and employ more than 200 young adults as activity specialists, coaches, and counselors.

• Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies’ Resolve to Save Lives partnered with the New York State Department of Health to launch a statewide contact tracing program. As part of this effort, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health designed and disseminated an online contact tracing training curriculum. More than one million people from around the world have enrolled in the introductory course that is free to the public.