The following blog post is written by Michele McLellan, a Circuit Rider for the Knight Community Information Challenge, which is accepting applications from community and place-based foundations through June 1. Photo credit: ModeShift on Flickr.

Six years ago, the Knight Community Information Challenge set out to encourage community foundations to fill gaps in local information created by shrinking newsrooms.

Along the way, though, many challenge winners found that their news and information projects increased civic engagement – in fact, that’s what more than two-thirds reported recently in a survey by FSG.

FSG surveyed more than 50 community foundations that have sponsored local news and information projects in the first five years of the challenge, which is accepting applications from locally-focused funders through June 1.

Among the overall survey findings:

• 66 percent reported they had increased community engagement in issues they care about.
• 74 percent report contributing towards a more informed community, to greater media attention to local issues, and to greater collaboration among community issues.

FSG cited these examples:

• ACT for Alexandria in Virginia created an online town hall called “Ask the city council candidates.” This prompted online discussion and the local Democratic party used questions from the town hall in its final primary debate. The project reports that residents have also been more engaged in local problem solving. For example, during a competition to promote engagement, residents generated 22 different ideas for how to improve the play opportunities for children in Alexandria.

Most of the world sees San José, Calif. as the capital of Silicon Valley, a creative tech hub drawing extraordinary talent to some of the world’s largest media companies like Google, Facebook and more.

Yet the country’s 10th largest city faces significant challenges, including gaping economic disparity and a significant digital divide. Richard Florida, a leading intellectual on economic competitiveness, writes that wage inequality in San José, Calif. is the second largest in the country.

We recently asked several of the community’s leaders from philanthropy, government and the arts what they see as their city’s greatest assets and biggest challenges.

Here’s what they had to say:

Erica K. Wood, vice president of community leadership and grantmaking at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation:

E.W.: San José and Silicon Valley are rich in diversity – its residents represent an incredible range of cultural traditions and languages, and we enjoy an environment that encompasses beautiful open spaces, farmland and vibrant urban neighborhoods. The innovations generated by our universities and businesses – from global corporations to one-person startups – often make Silicon Valley residents feel as if the solutions to the world’s toughest problems must surely be within reach.

And yet there are still enormous issues that divide us. Serious and growing economic disparity between rich and poor, unequal access to digital technology and education, lack of affordable housing and inadequate transportation systems are among them. Striving to narrow the gap between those who have and those in need is what makes our work at the community foundation rewarding.

Connie Martinez, managing director and CEO of 1stACT Silicon Valley (which seeks to make downtown San José a more viable, fun and friendly place to live) and Executive Director of the Arts Council of Silicon Valley:

The deadline is approaching soon for the Knight Community Information Challenge, offering matching funds to community and place-based foundations supporting news and information projects. So we thought we’d round up information that may help you brainstorm ideas and formulate your application before June 1.

First, we have a few posts on how community foundations are:

• Discovering that good information promotes social change;

• Opening up data to local residents, and

• Experimenting with mobile projects.

We also have a slide presentation and post on the challenge's new focus for 2013,  and case studies that look at how four community foundations took their projects from idea to reality. Earlier this month, we hosted a webinar to answer questions, and posted the recording.

The challenge this year is putting a priority on Open Government projects that help improve the way citizens and governments interact. Today, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, the Knight Digital Media Center is hosting a session on Open Government, Open Data and Civic Participation: Five Projects Any Community Can Try. There’s still space left, so feel free to join in the conversation.

And as always, there are plenty of other resources (and a link to the application, hint hint) at informationneeds.org.