Michael Jordan Making Biggest Donation Ever to NC City

NBA star is donating $7M to open 2 medical clinics in Charlotte
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 9, 2017 1:02 PM CDT
Michael Jordan Making Biggest Donation Ever to NC City
In this Aug. 21, 2015, file photo, former NBA star and current owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Jordan, smiles at reporters in Chicago.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Michael Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina, attended UNC-Chapel Hill, and now owns the Charlotte Hornets, is making his biggest ever donation—$7 million—to build two medical clinics in Charlotte. Per his rep, the NBA legend learned of a 2014 study that found children in the North Carolina city have the worst odds of kids in any major US city to get out of poverty. After that study, a task force was created to work on the problem, and "Michael really wanted to do something personally," his rep says. One of the task force's findings is that lack of access to health care is a critical factor in the city's economic-mobility problems.

The donation will fund two Novant Health family clinics in communities that have some of the "densest concentrations of poverty" in the city, per the Charlotte Observer; the Charlotte Business Journal notes the neighborhoods were ones identified by the task force. In addition to medical services, the clinics will offer behavioral health, physical therapy, social work, oral health, and family planning services. It's estimated they'll provide affordable care to almost 35,000 children and adults who don't currently have access to primary or preventive care, or who head to the ER for non-emergency issues, the AP reports. They're expected to open in 2020. (More Michael Jordan stories.)

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