Stories of Transformation

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Even with tangible signs of recovery and a focus on the future spurred in part by Knight Foundation, the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s recovery has been slow.
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Tempering the Immigration Debate: An Assessment of the American Dream Fund
From coast to coast, the newly documented surge in immigrants was changing communities. Inside some of America’s largest foundations – including Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York — staff members took notice of the new figures. They sensed, correctly, that the topic of immigration was hot, and they wanted to get involved.
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A Big Job: Retooling Northeast Ohio’s Economy
A Reporter's Analysis

Since 2004, philanthropic organizations in Northeast Ohio have worked together to bolster economic development in a region suffering from decades of decline.
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Knight Funding in Miami’s Overtown: A Big Bet, a Bigger Challenge
A Reporter's Analysis

In 2000, as Knight Foundation marked its 50th anniversary, its leadership made one of the largest and most challenging investment decisions in its history. It would commit nearly $19 million over three to five years to help revitalize Overtown, a community less than a half mile from the foundation's Miami headquarters but far distant economically and socially from much of the city and Miami-Dade County.
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Volunteer Program Sees Gold in Untapped Pool of Seasonal Talent
"The more you're involved in your community, the stronger the civic fabric becomes." That's Knight Foundation's Susan Patterson talking about StepUp!, a big experiment under way in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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News Challenge Winners Innovate with Digital Media
The 25 Knight News Challenge winners are a distinctive and eclectic group ranging from MIT to MTV to individual bloggers. The contest, open to anyone, anywhere, seeks and funds ideas using digital news and information to build and bind community in specific geographic places.
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Akron Neighborhood Benefits From Leaders' Collaboration
Ken Stapleton, executive director of the University Park Alliance, calls the partners in the long-term revitalization collaborative "very, very strategic thinkers, bold leaders, people who aren't afraid to take risks." They started in 2000 with a bold idea to take charge of the community's revitalization with seed funding from Knight Foundation.
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The Arts and Culture Inspire – and Can Drive the Economy
For a foundation whose mission is to build community, the arts provide a most effective glue. In the Knight communities of Miami, Akron, Charlotte and Columbus, Ga., new cultural institutions are integral parts of booming civic revitalizations.
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Zaha Hadid Pushes the Bounds of the Built Environment
Pritzker Prize-winner international architect Zaha Hadid consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. As part of Knight’s series of Thought Leader presentations, she shared ideas about building for the needs of people with interviewer Cathy Leff, director of Miami Beach’s Wolfsonian museum.
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Citizen Media Observer Says: Don’t Speak. Point!
What does the future of news look like? Citizen media expert Bruno Giussani examines the changing, crowded, chaotic new media world and offers some advice on how to thrive.
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Citizen Journalists Find Their Voices
Democracy needs diverse voices to give its people the information they need to be good citizens. A $1 million grant from Knight Foundation to the University of Maryland's J-Lab helps communities start innovative citizen news ventures. Ten New Voices projects were started in 2005, all producing news their communities can use.
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Initiatives Help Smooth Immigrants’ Path to Citizenship
The United States is experiencing the largest immigrant boom since the early part of the 20th century, with newcomers coming from a wider range of nations and settling in nontraditional immigrant gateway cities where few had settled before. Knight Foundation introduced its Immigrant Integration Initiative to help hard-working, tax-paying immigrant families become citizens, vote and play an active role in community life.
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San Jose Education Venture Addresses Children’s Full Needs
Using a "hub and spoke" approach, the Knight-funded Stepping Stones project in San Jose, Calif., makes sure that preschool children can use a range of services -– from dental care to reading lessons, from clinic check-ups to help for their low-income parents.
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Macon Residents, Planners Reclaim Beall’s Hill Neighborhood
Six years ago, Beall's Hill was blighted, totally disconnected from nearby Mercer University and Macon's historic downtown. Today you'll see a comeback community.
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Camden Education Leader Exhibits Courage, Tenacity, Know-How
Since 2002, Knight Foundation has supported Dr. Gloria Bonilla Santiago's vision of a better kind of education for students in Camden, N.J., a city across the Delaware River from Philadelphia working to overcome huge social, political and economic deficits.
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Devastated Gulf Coast Develops Long-Range Rebuilding Vision
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Knight Foundation’s immediate response was to send $1 million for emergency relief to the Knight community of Biloxi, Miss.
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Boulder Works to Create a Local Culture of Giving
The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County has created the Culture of Giving program (www.cultureofgiving.org) to encourage charitable contributions, volunteerism and other philanthropic engagement among the community's nonprofits and its residents and businesses.
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Campaign Heightens Awareness of the Danger Latin Journalists Face
Many parts of the world are dangerous places to practice journalism. The Americas are no exception, with journalists attacked and killed for reporting on political corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime.
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