2013 KnightArts Akron grants via Knight Foundation on Flickr Today, we are excited to celebrate new investments in the Akron arts scene, with $750,000 in support to 14 organizations exploring ways to engage new audiences while maintaining our community’s history of artistic excellence. This year has been one of creativity in Akron. Rising artists are […]
Article · October 24, 2013 by Jennifer Thomas
2013 KnightArts Akron grants via Knight Foundation on Flickr Today, we are excited to celebrate new investments in the Akron arts scene, with $750,000 in support to 14 organizations exploring ways to engage new audiences while maintaining our community’s history of artistic excellence. This year has been one of creativity in Akron. Rising artists are creating new ventures: […]
Article · October 24, 2013 by Jennifer Thomas
Code for America: Summit County from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. Dan Avery, Alan Williams and Katie Lewis hail from various cities in the U.S., but they now share something in common: they are hanging out in Akron, Ohio! These three Code for America fellows arrived in Akron on Feb. 2 as part of a partnership between […]
Article · February 28, 2013 by Jennifer Thomas
Today, I’m excited to announce a nearly $8 million investment to help revitalize downtown Akron. The funding for the University Park Alliance helps forward the organization’s dual mission – to foster strong neighborhoods through community engagement and to facilitate real estate development by partnering with anchor institutions. Most of the funding – $6 million – will […]
Article · December 18, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
More than 150 leaders in Akron, Ohio celebrated the grand opening of the Austen BioInnovation Institute’s new $13.3 million headquarters and Center for Simulation and Integrated Healthcare and Education. The institute is a partnership of Akron Children’s, Summa, and Akron General hospitals and the University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University, with support from […]
Article · October 3, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
Building playgrounds is not child’s play. More than 600 Akron residents came out on Saturday Aug. 4 in three locations across the city to pour concrete, maneuver metal equipment and haul mulch. The result for children: three beautiful playgrounds in neighborhoods where they were desperately needed. The result for the adult residents: a proud accomplishment after weeks of designing, […]
Article · August 6, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
Over 120 people came together this week in Akron to engage in a discussion about how residents and politicians can best address critical issues that are polarizing the country. The conversation also featured a new Knight grantee, The Civility Project, whose goal is “to return civility to public discourse.” It plans to use its $33,000 support from Knight […]
Article · July 19, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
University Park residents in Akron came out in force on Saturday, June 16 to involve members of the community in shaping an economic strategy for their neighborhood. Over 350 neighborhood residents, engaged by the University Park Alliance, met to decide and prioritize the work and to contribute to the conversation on how to bring in additional funding. […]
Article · June 19, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
The new University Park YMCA in Akron has exceeded membership expectations by 46 percent. By the end of February 2012, the $11 million University Park facility, funded in part with a $3 million grant from Knight Foundation, had sold 3,510 memberships, which represents more than 7,000 adults and children. The YMCA had anticipated to sell approximately 2,400 by the end […]
Article · May 4, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
Dr. Frank Douglas, ABIA president and CEO Recently, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron held a value-driven engineering conference including some of the country’s leading doctors and innovators. The two-day conference, which attracted nearly 300 people, focused on topics such as maximizing value for patient and healthcare systems, medical device complexity and educating the next […]
Article · April 30, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas
Today, Knight announced a $400,000 grant to Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU), which will launch a new program to connect our diverse young business professionals with service opportunities in our nonprofit community. We hope the program will more deeply engage young professionals and increase the probability that they will stay and build lives in Northeast Ohio as […]
Article · April 17, 2012 by Jennifer Thomas