Editor's note: Knight Wichita Program Director Anne Corriston writes about recent recognition of the PACES program that Knight has funded.

Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer recognized Knight Foundation's workforce development project, PACES, in his State of the City address on January 27.

Image by Michael Kinard.

PACES, Preparation for Aviation/Advanced Career Employment System, is managed by the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas. The goal is to connect low-income, low-skilled people to higher paying careers at local aviation companies and their suppliers. The economic downturn our aviation companies are currently experiencing means we are expanding the PACES model to include the health care industry.

Knight's initial investment in PACES has led to other grants, including one from the City of Wichita. The PACES program team will work with community-based organizations to provide remedial learning, skills assessment, and coaching to participants.

It's a project with a long view ' moving people from marginal jobs with low pay to better-paying jobs that offer benefits and opportunities to advance their careers. We will learn much along the way and will share our findings as we go.

Opening February 1st, the Knight Arts Challenge is a community-wide contest to fund the best art ideas in South Florida.

The deadline for applications is 9 a.m. March 2, 2009.

The video below is the first in a series for the Knight Arts Challenge from Miami World Cinema Center (directed by Josh Miller and Sam Rega).

From the press release:

Last year, Knight Foundation awarded $8 million to 31 groups ' such as sculptors, musicians, prominent institutions and recently formed galleries. The winning ideas included creating a two-year, fellow residency for up-and-coming artists run by the University of Miami and housed in the Design District; a Haitian jazz series; and little league-like network of children's choirs serving disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Find out more about the Challenge on the site.
More: video from the event with winners of the first round.

A look back this morning:

"Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to read the day's newspaper--well, it's not as far-fetched as it may seem..."