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News & Updates
Get Updates On Engaged CommunitiesNews Releases
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‘Design in Detroit’ connects wider community with city’s creative movement
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San Jose’s Mayfair community looks to address challenges from within
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New effort will engage more young professionals in civic leadership
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Six ways to celebrate national poetry month with O,Miami
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Detroit initiatives advance contemporary public life
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New effort to help more Detroiters learn and lead as social innovators
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Detroit Institute of Arts’ popular Inside|Out Program receives Knight support
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New campaign will connect St. Paul's diverse communities online
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Arts groups in Akron boost cultural community, with Knight Foundation support
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JumpStart to promote entrepreneurship in 20 new cities with $1 million in support from Knight Foundation
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City of Macon Welcomes Code for America Fellows
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500 plus Miami elementary students receive laptops, training
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Project brings 2012 campaign spenders to light
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Twenty black men recognized for making Detroit and Philadelphia stronger
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National contest offers community foundations matching funds for local news and information projects
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Miami Science Museum receives $10 million from Knight Foundation for new building in downtown Miami
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Community Foundation of Greater South Wood County changes name, not mission
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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Knight Foundation announce winners of the first-of-its-kind 'Apps for Communities Challenge'
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Unique, joint newsroom will help increase local journalism in Macon
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Hatch Detroit to engage Detroiters in leading the growth of local retail
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Best ideas for the South Florida arts receive $2.9 million in funding
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Change By Us, an innovative online platform to foster civic engagement, goes open source
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New, Knight-funded site allows Philadelphia residents to take active role in improving city
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Knight Commission Calls for Examination of College Sports Governance, While Recognizing NCAA Steps Toward Reform
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Knight Foundation to help coordinate national broadband adoption effort
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New Models for Arts Journalism Receive Funding
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Community foundations increase impact by supporting local news and information projects
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Matt Haggman named Miami Program Director for Knight Foundation
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Knight Foundation brings Code for America to Detroit, Macon and Philadelphia
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NCAA Adopts Long-Standing Knight Commission Proposal on Academic Threshold for Participation in Postseason Championships
Knight Blog
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Feet in Two Worlds reporters win ethnic media awards
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Helping Detroit's creative entrepreneurs engage local supporters
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Student journalist in Ohio wins award for investigative reporting
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The Civic Commons needs your help to turn talk into community action
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Exploring the future of social entrepreneurship
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News partnership explores the rural Dakotas
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Miami’s Ashoka office to help build social entrepreneurship in South Florida
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St. Paul community invited to understand factors that accelerate economic and social growth
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Detroit’s BME Leadership Award Winners address community issues with Michigan governor
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Akron area YMCA: "a giant, diverse melting pot"
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Silicon Valley reading program engages community through open dialogue
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Innovating at annual conference for grantmakers
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Austen BioInnovation Institute conference attracts leaders in medical field and innovation
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Report offers funders ways to strengthen funding in mobile, tech
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Silicon Valley Community Foundation engages people in planning for Bay Area growth
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Using technology to help build a better Philadelphia
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St. Paul: addressing key factors of community attachment
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Digital workshops in Charlotte help improve media literacy
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Radio show gives community a voice in addressing environment and health issues
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Code for America's recruits for civic startup accelerator
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Helping Akron young professionals engage with nonprofits
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Seeking proposals: Join us as we grow the BME Challenge
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Knight School honors faculty member who helps students embrace digital and media literacy
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Five lessons learned from a social entrepreneur
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Minnesota Philanthropy Partners uses info projects to engage people around important issues
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Connecting Philly
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Bringing millennial-led engagement to Miami
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Five lessons in bridging the digital divide
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Akron program to increase retention and graduation of black males shows early sign of success
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Making civic health data useful to help improve communities
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Leveraging online activity to drive offline action http://t.co/FtOeWory via @Detroit4Detroit
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Why data for 2nd #newschallenge? We r challenged w making sense of increasing amounts of info created http://t.co/Qs6Dttgm #bigdata #dataviz
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Project which partners student journalists w/ established media organizations wins reporting award http://t.co/9YiOnTI7
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.@MTV, @knightfdn & news organizations team up to produce fantasy-football-style-election game http://t.co/L5yKc9J1 via @NiemanLab
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If system of current journalism education is blocking you, @EricNewton1 suggests ways "to blow it up" http://t.co/pf1L8sWX
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Excited to announce next #newschallenge will focus on data. Open for apps May 31. http://t.co/cWt4gSfv @jsb gives preview
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.@AmaraSubs uses tech to allow people anywhere to translate audio so that video can be understood in many languages http://t.co/BJwGAjg5
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.@PublicLab spends 2 days doing aerial #mapping in Louisiana at Big Branch & Wetlands Conservancy. Great photos! http://t.co/yZNiESyW
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See the faces & read the bios of some of @CivicData's judges on Facebook http://t.co/3y8d6ZTL #dataviz #opendata
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Using the web to engage supporters in success of community's growing movement of young, civic-minded entrepreneurs http://t.co/5SzBRkD2
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RT @DAFrizzG: #whyilovephilly people turn mausoleums into Art galleries:" Message & Medium" at @PhilaMOCA - http://t.co/dQOKTmSW
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@ByManuelValdes Ha! Well there's @AmaraSubs in case that method proves to be ineffective ;) http://t.co/jQQT4NXz
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When an online video is posted in language you don’t speak, how do you enjoy it? @AmaraSubs solves the problem http://t.co/jQQT4NXz
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.@EricNewton1: Positive #journalism education trends happening in spite of rather than because of underlying structures http://t.co/CU2u1din
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.@knightfdn funds Detroit Creative Corridor Center to connect creative individuals & institutions http://t.co/prDE2jw6 v @positivedetroit
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MT @ibarguen: Detroit is new Berlin. Finding ways to bring in new people to grow its creative community http://t.co/u3DyNeHz #arts @rsjaitly
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RT @bthewirz: Congrats to both @TexasTribune and @RGibbs, this is going to be dope-- QRANK Creator Joins Trib Team http://t.co/WfSpnM2s
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The @BMEChallenge brings together #Philadelphia's black male leaders http://t.co/6W0g8tjw via @DAFrizzG #leadership
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Design the city of your future! Today is the deadline to enter #TED's @TheCity2_0 competition http://t.co/yzzGWlJN via @Ashoka
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Helping #Detroit's creative entrepreneurs engage local supporters with @detroitcreative http://t.co/Y7BLFIfT via @rsjaitly #socent
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MT @ASCCharlotte: There are $275k worth of matching opps on @power2give right now! Have your donation matched $1 for $1 http://t.co/THZSME8g
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.@waldojaquith on how to decode state law histories, so that material can be provided in plain English http://t.co/oROenHff v @PBSIdeaLab
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Digital platform created by @Knightfdn #journalism fellow uses #opendata to monitor Amazon rainforest http://t.co/pMRYaOAn ht @Rosental
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MT @mayurhpatel: Email still matters 4 #opengov when 92% adults online use email. New study on public sector practices http://t.co/wJIiFXg5
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MT @dthorman: In NYC @fordfoundation to discuss using tech to improve service delivery. Great need to develop tech that disrupts systems
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MT @maconsymphony: Check out Knight Foundation's blog, currently featuring MSO's latest Random Act of Culture http://t.co/orRzxVfq
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New collaborative effort led by @USCAnnenberg will explore media diversity in Southern CA http://t.co/TDLDLZxM
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Here's more about what they're up to http://t.co/6GmZfqZw MT @Cronkite_ASU: Welcoming J students from 12 universities for start of @News21
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How the #arts can help build community, lead to prosperity & economic development http://t.co/jFtCInYk via @knightmacon
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Student #journo in Ohio, with @thenewsoutlet, wins investigative reporting award http://t.co/9YiOnTI7 by @michelemclellan #journalism
Publications
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Kaboom Evaluation
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Connect Detroit: Lessons from one city's efforts to bridge the digital divide
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State of Funding in Information and Media among Community and Place-based Foundations - Feb. 2012
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Collaboration and Connection
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How people learn about their local community
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Leadership Profile: Community Foundation of New Jersey
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Leadership Profile: Silicon Valley Community Foundation
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Leadership Profile: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
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Opportunities for Leadership: Meeting Community Information Needs
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Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World
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University Park Alliance Revitalization
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Libraries Initiative
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KaBOOM!
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Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program
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General Assessment Resources & Tools
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Connected Citizens: The Power, Potential and Peril of Networks
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Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication
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Opportunities for Foundation Leadership: Meeting Community Information Needs 2010
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Community Information Toolkit Version 1.0 Preview
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Impact: A Guide to Evaluating Community Information Projects
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Knight Community Information Challenge Assessment
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Government Transparency: Six Strategies for More Open and Participatory Government
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How the Public Perceives Community Information Systems
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Creating Local Online Hubs: Three Models for Action
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Reports from the Field 2011
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Journalism and Media Grantmaking
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Medya, Sistèm Enfòmasyon ak Kominote: Leson nou Aprann ann AYITI
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Rethinking Public Media: More local, More Inclusive, More Interactive
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College Access & Success System Study: Philadelphia and Miami
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Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action
In The News
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Mozilla & Knight Foundation invest $1M in crowdsourced translation startup Amara
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Knight Foundation and Mozilla invest $1m in crowdsourced video translation project Amara
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Macon Money: A social game in Georgia tries to bring residents together across traditional boundaries
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The Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University
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Macon community benefitting from tech upgrades at Macon library
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Entrepreneurs setting up shop in Detroit
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In Akron, project puts ‘community’ in community learning
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Program tries to anchor professionals in area
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Beyond books: check out your public library
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New BioInnovation Institute headquarters nearing completion in downtown Akron
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Philanthrofest invites Miamians to get engaged with their community
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Free Library Techmobile brings the knowledge to you
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Turbovote, which simplifies registering to vote, expands in South Florida
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Knight Foundation initiative funds innovative civic engagement
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Paula Ellis interviewed by The Community Foundation on Boulder radio
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Soapbox derby features record number of entrants
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New Knight Neighborhood Challenge Grant winners announced
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Detroit Civic Engagement Grants Award Groups $65,000 From Knight Foundation, CEOs For Cities
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Parent to Parent: You Media
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High-Quality STEM education for all: it takes a village
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Promoting academics
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Can startups save public broadcasting?
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Knight grant to Torchbearers to help in building new leaders
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New project highlights Detroit innovators
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The 2012 TED prize will fund ways to remake our cities
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Detroit 4 Detroit: anyone can be a citizen philanthropist, it just takes passion
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Parent to Parent: One Laptop Per Child in Miami
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Black Male Engagement Leadership awards: Helping those who've helped their communities
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Rishi Jaitly: Innovation in Detroit
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Cinequest Film Festival: Growing up in East Palo Alto
Featured Engaged Communities Projects (3 of 3,511)
Browse ProjectsUniversity Park
To support the core organization that proposes to develop University Park, revitalizing a community anchored by two key institutions and using innovative approaches to health and lifelong learning as part of the area's development theme
United States Artists
To support the work of American artist Zoe Strauss and her I-95 project in Philadelphia
SoChange
To create a software platform that aggregates consumer buying power and lets them direct it toward businesses that behave in socially responsible ways
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.
Engaged Communities Project Categories
Resident Communities
Nonresident Communities
Staff
Trabian Shorters
VP/Communities
Meredith Hector
Assistant to the VP / Communities
Bahia Ramos Synnott
Dir./Community Fdns
Beverly Blake
Program Director / Macon
Chris Vastine
Executive Assistant
Donna Frisby-Greenwood
Program Director / Philadelphia
Jennifer A. Thomas
Program Director / Akron
Judith Kleinberg
Program Director / San Jose/Silicon Valley
Matt Haggman
Program Director / Miami
Polly M. Talen
Program Director / St. Paul
Rishi S. Jaitly
Program Director / Detroit
Susan Patterson
Program Director / Charlotte
Paula Ellis
VP/Strategic Initiatives
Damian Thorman
National Program Director
Jeff Coates
Strategic Initiatives Associate
Brett Hudson
National Urban Fellow
Laura Yribia
Assistant
Gabriella Parlapiano
Assistant
Knight Foundation