“Throughout our history, tradespeople have built our country,” said Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock. “America needs an estimated $10 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2033 to modernize aging systems and build new energy, digital, and AI infrastructure. Capital alone is not enough — people are central to building our nation’s future. By bringing policymakers, corporate leaders and labor champions together, we’re helping ensure this growth delivers shared prosperity and greater economic mobility for more Americans.”

In the first phase, BlackRock’s Future Builders initiative will deploy $100 million in grant capital to nonprofit and workforce development partners across multiple states over the next five years, reaching 50,000 workers. BlackRock will work alongside federal, state, and local governments, labor organizations, companies, and nonprofits to strengthen effective skilled trades programs and deliver these opportunities at scale. The initiative will take a comprehensive approach — supporting pre-apprenticeship access, training completion and licensure — while embedding financial education and digital savings tools to help workers build durable economic security from their first paycheck through retirement. BlackRock will announce additional phases of Future Builders over the next 12 months. 

“Building the infrastructure to secure America's continued leadership in AI is creating thousands of high skilled trade jobs. We applaud BlackRock’s Future Builders initiative and their commitment to expand economic opportunity for more Americans,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google. “Google is proud to have pioneered an electrical worker training program that is creating high paying careers across America. Only through collective investment — each program building and expanding upon the other — can the public and private sectors ensure all Americans have an opportunity to benefit from AI's upside.”

“BlackRock’s Future Builders initiative reflects a clear understanding that meeting America’s infrastructure demands requires both capital and people. This is at the heart of IBEW and NECA’s jointly administered apprenticeship program, which delivers rigorous, safety-driven, skills-based training that creates pathways into the middle class, strengthens workforce capacity to build and sustain the energy, digital, and AI infrastructure powering economic growth, and expands opportunity while supporting long-term financial security for working families,” said Kenneth Cooper, international president of IBEW and David Long, CEO of NECA.

The initiative builds on BlackRock’s broader philanthropic efforts to strengthen financial security for more Americans, including its Emergency Savings Initiative, which has helped people build a total of $2 billion in new liquid savings since 2019. Since 2020, BlackRock’s philanthropic spend, including through The BlackRock Foundation, has totaled $354 million. Grants have supported over 250,000 people across the U.S., UK, and EU through education and workforce training programs, including recent skilled trades programs in Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee.

The Future Builders initiative will be a key focus today at BlackRock’s U.S. Infrastructure Summit in Washington D.C. The event convenes elected officials, corporate executives, labor leaders, asset owners, and infrastructure experts to discuss how the U.S. can accelerate the delivery of new and upgraded infrastructure crucial to the country’s long-term economic growth.