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Every once in a while, a community has a moment so big that you know instantly you'll remember where you were when you heard the news. This is one of those moments.
Today, Ken Griffin announced one of the largest philanthropic gifts in American history: $3 billion to build a Carnegie Mellon University campus right here in Miami.
Billion with a B.
The headlines will focus on the size of the gift. But what excites me most isn't actually the number.
It's the momentum it builds.
This campus will not only educate thousands of students every year. It will draw world-class faculty, researchers, entrepreneurs, and talent from around the globe. It will give young people who grew up here a powerful new path into careers in technology, engineering, science, and research without ever having to leave home. And it will become a magnet that keeps our brightest minds here: to live, to build, to invent.
But the momentum goes far beyond the impact of Carnegie Mellon itself. Serious investments are magnets of opportunity. They attract others to consider their own legacies, and they raise the scale in which people dream about what they could solve or build within a community. Consider the other bold places where deep investments will be catalytic. This investment raises the philanthropic frequency in Miami and will undoubtedly spark more catalytic ideas to come.
Ken, thank you for betting big on Miami, and for believing the next great chapter of American innovation can be written here. Thank you to Carnegie Mellon for choosing us. đ And thank you to all of the dreamers and builders in Miami who will leverage this moment to create increased access and opportunity for all who call this place home.
Miami has long been known for its culture, creativity, climate, and connection to the world. Increasingly, we're becoming known for something more: our generosity.
Because, truth be told, this may be the biggest gift in our history, but it's landing on ground we've been tending for decades.
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Miami created the first funding stream in America dedicated to homelessness, a food and beverage tax that powers our Homeless Trust 30 years later.
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Miami houses The Children's Trust, one of the largest dedicated funds for children in the country.
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Miami (and my incredibly team at The Miami Foundation) hosts the largest single-city giving day in the nation, Give Miami Day, which raised over $43 million from 120,000 donations last year alone.
We are home to philanthropic families who have built our vital institutions and invested in our biggest solutions for generations. Our medical campuses and hospitals. Our award-winning higher education institutions. Our museums and performing arts centers. Our bike paths and public spaces. Our faith institutions, food banks, homeless shelters, and wraparound services.
What makes me proudest is knowing that In the same season we celebrate a $3 billion gift, we'll also see hundreds of thousands of $25 donations on Give Miami Day. Every single one of them reflects the true culture of this place.
Now comes the harder, more exciting part. A campus this ambitious will reach its full promise only if it is woven into the fabric of Miami. That means clear pathways from our public schools and Miami Dade College classrooms into its labs. It means deep synergy and friendship across all of our extraordinary institutions.
īģŋAnd it means residents in every neighborhood feeling that this campus belongs to them, too.
And that's the thing about this moment. This gorgeous, young city is being shaped right in front of our eyes. Every one of us gets a say in the values that will define us as we rise.
Miami's future isn't something that happens to us.
It's something we build together, whether you give $3 billion or $25.
Generosity is who we are.đĒŠđ And this investment is one that all of us get to build upon.
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