Basketball legend Michael Jordan is donating $10 million to launch two medical clinics in underserved communities near his home town in North Carolina, US.
The Novant Health clinics are set to open in early 2022 in New Hanover County along North Carolina's south-eastern coast, according to a statement from the regional healthcare system on Monday.
The gift marks one of the largest ever from the Basketball Hall of Fame athlete, news outlets reported.
Jordan previously gave $7 million to open Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinics in Charlotte in 2019 and 2020. Those clinics have since seen more than 4,500 patients and have administered about 1,000 Covid-19 vaccines, Novant Health said.
"I am very proud to once again partner with Novant Health to expand the Family Clinic model to bring better access to critical medical services in my home town," Jordan said. "Everyone should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live, or whether or not they have insurance."
Novant said the new clinics would bring services to “more rural and rural-adjacent communities” and to those who are uninsured or underinsured.
"This pandemic has exacerbated health equity gaps across our state, making our efforts to close them even more emergent. We look forward to standing these clinics up as quickly as possible to ensure all members of the community have access to necessary medical care," said Carl Armato, president and chief executive of Novant Health.
"We are so appreciative of Michael's unwavering commitment to help us bring affordable care to our communities that need it most. It's not only an investment in us as a partner, but it's an investment in each and every person that our clinics can reach."
Jordan grew up in Wilmington before going on to play at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He later played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls.
“Wilmington holds a special place in my heart and it’s truly gratifying to be able to give back to the community that supported me throughout my life," he said.
In November, Jordan also donated $2 million from his fee for Netflix series The Last Dance to the non-profit Feeding America.
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Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
