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  18. @TDFcommunity We are working to get the text of her speech, we'll keep you updated.

  24. We'll be tweeting links to blog posts, video archives, photos & more over the next few days. Stay tuned to #infoneeds.

  25. That's a wrap! Thanks to everyone - organizers, speakers, participants for making our Media Learning Seminar such a success! #infoneeds

  26. "It's easy to sing the gospel of social media, I want to sing the gospel of participation - @EthanZ at #infoneeds #sm

  27. .@EthanZ: What I'm interested in is a paradigm shift so that it's possible for people to amplify their voices #infoneeds

  29. MT @jsb: @ethanz: Better ambient awareness if we use tools like Twitter correctly- old HS friends can break us out of silos. #infoneeds

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About our Knight Library Initiative strategy

Knight Foundation is helping libraries in 27 cities become true digital community centers that help foster informed and engaged communities with Knight’s $6.7 million Library Initiative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knight Foundation’s Library Initiative aims to:

Create and expand wi-fi service: Increased bandwidth and new hardware in communities such as Wichita, Kan.,Milledgeville, Ga., and Miami, Fla., allow libraries to better meet a vastly expanding need for Internet access.

Provide new equipment for public access: In places such as Tallahassee, Fla., and Conway, S.C., funds cover the costs of updated equipment, including dozens of laptops for patrons to use throughout the library. In Tallahassee alone, the new computing power is expected to mean an additional 380,000 hours of Internet access a year.

Launch mobile computer labs: Expanding the library beyond its walls, these labs help reach underserved neighborhoods. In St. Paul, Minn. the labs will offer services in Spanish, Hmong and Somali, and in Columbus, Ga. labs visit hard to reach rural areas. In Philadelphia, meanwhile, the library offers temporary, nomadic computer labs so that residents can have access even when branches close due to cutbacks.

Offer digital literacy training: As the town square becomes increasingly virtual, digital skills are vital to participating in a democracy. Knight funding supports training in using the Internet help residents improve their lives. In South Florida’s Broward County, where 70 percent of library patrons seek digital products, 12,000 people have taken classes in computer literacy, introduction to the Web and Word.

Help people find jobs and services: Lacking Internet access to search for jobs and correspond with prospective employers can leave job-seekers at a profound disadvantage. Five Knight cities are creating job centers, including Charlotte, N.C., where the center helped 22,500 residents in its first year with resume and job search assistance and more. The centers also help the unemployed get benefits, food stamps and other basic services.

 

 

Knight Library Initiative Project Categories

About our Engaged Communities Strategy

To help sustain healthy communities in a democracy, Knight aims to increase the ability of individuals to engage in change. Knight fosters initiatives that develop in people a strong sense of belonging and caring, timely access to relevant information, the ability to understand that information, and the motivation, opportunity and skills to take sustainable action on a range of issues throughout their lives.

Knight Foundation fosters innovative approaches to increasing engagement skills in the community development field. The foundation funds programs that use technology to foster engagement. It supports individuals as agents for engagement, with a focus on youth leadership, social entrepreneurs and local institutions. Knight supports naturalization campaigns to increase the number of citizens who are highly motivated to engage with their communities.

Part of Knight’s activities focuses on 26 communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers, with donor-advised programs in 18 and program director-led programs in the eight ”resident Knight communities” (Akron, Ohio, Charlotte, N.C., Detroit, Mich., Macon, Ga., Miami, Fla., and Philadelphia, Pa.).

Knight experiments with innovative approaches to community engagement such as engaging community foundations nationwide in addressing community information needs, using community-wide social games to bring residents together, and partnering with local and national agencies to get more black males engaged in their communities.

The foundation has invested more than $841 million in its communities program since 1950.

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