A fund will also focus on preschools in underserved communities
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced the launch of the Bezos Day One Fund with an initial commitment of $2 billion.
Bezos became the world’s richest person in 2017. As of Sept. 17, Bezos had a total net worth of $162 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The fund will focus on funding existing non-profits that help homeless families and creating a network of new, non-profit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities, Bezos said in a tweet.
Inspired by the “no child sleep outside” vision statement of Mary’s Place in Seattle, the Day 1 Families Fund will award organizations and civic groups that provide shelter and huger support to young families for leadership.
Meanwhile, the Day 1 Academies Fund will launch and operate a network of Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities. The schools will offer full scholarships. Bezos said that they will use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon in operating these preschools.
“Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession. The chill will be the customer,” Bezos said.
The announcement follows a 2017 tweet by Bezos asking for philanthropy thoughts and ideas.
