Last night, four films showing possible futures for Charlotte, North Carolina were screened at six different area locations as part of Crossroads Charlotte, a project funded by Knight.

Image by Justin Ruckman

Justin Ruckman blogged:

Writer Alan Moore famously said in the Watchmen that the best way to engage your audience in a piece of fiction was to start out with the most tragic thing you could imagine. And Crossroads Charlotte: The Movie did just that. Starting with a scenario entitled Fortress Charlotte, gang members were involved in a drive-by shooting, an eight-year old girl was checked for weaponry via metal detector and an Iraq war veteran was denied entry into a homeless shelter ' in the first few minutes. Ouch.

I never thought I would know what it would be like to live in Detroit, but now I think I do.

At the end of the pain, actual stats about city problems were displayed as we transitioned into the next scenario, lending creedence to the possibility of such a world coming to fruition. A trend that continued between each scenario.

The six locations were connected by video before the film; after the film, the audience discussed the different outcomes for the city and passed the microphone. Tonya Jameson has more on her blog.

The new CrossroadsCharlotte.com also launched last night, and has ways for community members to post events and stay in touch:

Congrats to the Crossroads Charlotte team on the site launch; what questions do you have on the possible future scenarios for Charlotte?

Larry "Bud" Meyer retired February 1st after fourteen years at Knight Foundation. You can find more about his accomplishments on his retirement announcement. He is board chairman of the Communications Network, a national nonprofit with 324 members dedicated to promoting strategic communications in U.S. philanthropy.

We miss him here in the office and wanted to send birthday wishes his way, so we made a short video:

Happy Birthday, Bud!

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.