She announced Wednesday that her Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation will donate money to organizations dedicated to helping underserved communities in Chicago; Baltimore; Nashville, Tennessee; Milwaukee; and Kosciusko, Mississippi, where she was born.
“The reason I’m talking about it is because there is going to be a need for people of means to step up,” Winfrey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
In Nashville, where Winfrey lived with her father and started her media career, she is giving $2 million to NashvilleNurtures, a collaboration with Mount Zion Baptist Church and Tennessee State University, Winfrey’s alma mater.
In Baltimore, where Winfrey also built her media career, she’s donating money to Living Classrooms Foundation and Center for Urban Families.
Before giving out millions to others, Winfrey said she first helped the people closest to her.