Oprah's Stealth Philanthropy

Oprah's Stealth Philanthropy in Chicago

by Natalie Moore | WBEZ 91.5

Chicago and Oprah Winfrey go hand-in-hand.

She built a TV empire here, and there’s no doubt that the media mogul has been a booster for the Windy City.

Oprah lovers make the pilgrimage to her studio, contributing to tourism with dining and hotel stays along the way.

But her legacy is bigger than an economic engine to Chicago.

Oprah's philanthropic legacy in Chicago is vast, but under the radar.

There aren’t that many places or things named after Oprah in Chicago, but one of them’s going to last a long time. I’m looking for it in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park, a showpiece on Michigan Avenue. Here it is Oprah Winfrey name in all caps on a wall. It lists the founders of this enormous park.

Oprah gave a million dollars of her own money to make this park happen, but that’s a fraction of her largesse.

The exact figures for Oprah’s philanthropic impact in Chicago are hard to pinpoint, but one person with some insight on the big picture – is former mayor Richard M. Daley.

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Will the Oprah Winfrey Network Appeal to Black Audiences?
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21

In a recent New York Observer article about the net worth of Shawn Carter, Columbia University Scholar Manning Marable, author of the classic How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, cautioned that great investments were not “a strategy for a black capitalism. There the question is how to develop strategies that maximize the growth of capital and ownership within the black community.” For Marable wealth means nothing beyond personal achievement if not connected to ownership.

With an estimated net-worth of $2.7 Billion, according to Forbes Magazine, Oprah Winfrey has been one of the most recognizable and profitable brands in the world, largely via her signature product The Oprah Winfrey Show and her production company HARPO. With the debut of her new cable network—named OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network)—Winfrey attempts to translate her brand into literal ownership of a network.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com