Knight Foundation initiative funds innovative civic engagement
From Xconomy
The Knight Foundation announced it has teamed with CEOs for Cities to fund nine projects designed to encourage civic engagement, for a total grant amount of $65,000. Xconomist Rishi Jaitly, Knight’s program director in Detroit, says the awards build on the existing momentum in the city.
“We see a lot of people here leading enterprises that make it easier for citizens to participate in public discourse,” Jaitly explains. “A lot of people are blending social entrepreneurship, creativity, and civic action, and our mission is to make it easy for more institutions and individuals to share in this momentum.”
Emerging Web companies accounted for a big chunk of the projects funded. “All of these projects are great examples of acceleration using the Internet and other contexts,” Jaitly says. “We’re really excited to have a number of them anchored in tech because we think, in 20 or 30 years, a large part of engagement will happen online. It’s important to pay attention to that now.”
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.