Articles by

Donna Frisby-Greenwood

  • Communities

    Fund for the School District of Philadelphia champions better public schools to help retain city’s talent

    Donna Frisby-Greenwood is president and CEO of The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia and the former Philadelphia program director for Knight Foundation. Knight is supporting the efforts of the fund with $250,000 in support to promote success in Philadelphia’s schools and encourage talented people to stay in the city. Above: Students at J.S. Jenks Elementary School take part in a special program in the  auditorium. Photo courtesy The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia. Education […]

    Article · November 12, 2015 by

  • Communities

    Powering innovation in Philadelphia

    Photo of Philadelphia, Pa. by Flickr user Ahd Photography. I participated recently in Philly Innovates, the city of Philadelphia’s innovation summit in partnership with Salesforce. Mayor Michael Nutter, Chief Customer Service Officer Rosetta Lue and Deputy Mayor Rich Negrin unveiled “The Philly Innovates Blueprint” to become a more connected city. Salesforce, best known for its […]

    Article · March 26, 2015 by

  • Communities

    The power of unlikely partners

    Photo by Paul Gargagliano. Last week in partnership with NextCity, 900 AM WURD and AL DÍA News we launched City Sessions, a series of conversations with Philadelphians and national experts about the future of Philadelphia. Now is the time for us to think about how we want to continue growing and strengthening our city.  We’ve had […]

    Article · November 3, 2014 by

  • Communities

    Listening to ‘We the People’ in Philadelphia

    Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, via IceNineJon on Flickr. In the city where our Founding Fathers created this great republic, Thomas E. Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recently heard from some very informed and engaged citizens during a closed-door meeting coordinated by Media Mobilizing Project and hosted at the Independence Mall studio of PhillyCAM. The […]

    Article · October 9, 2014 by

  • Communities

    Lifting the soul of Philadelphia

    Photo credit: Flickr user Morgan Burke. Philadelphia is part of Knight Foundation’s soul. The relationship is more than 40 years old, reaching back to the years when the Knight brothers first bought The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. Although the newspaper chain has passed into history, the foundation carries forward their principles and […]

    Article · March 24, 2014 by

  • Communities

    Soledad O’Brien: ‘You have to reach students where they are’

    Photo credit: Bryant Sanders Photography Journalist Soledad O’Brien, CEO of Starfish Media Group and a correspondent for Al Jazeera America, last week moderated a discussion on mentoring here in Philadelphia as part of the launch of a new guide released by Urban Youth, a local nonprofit that works with kids. Urban Youth developed the “Lessons Learned […]

    Article · October 21, 2013 by

  • Communities

    Local kids are building Philly’s future, one app at a time

    Photo credit: Elizabeth Manning/Temple University Knight Foundation supports the Urban Apps and Maps Studio to foster diversity in Philadelphia’s tech community and inspire young people from the city’s low-income neighborhoods with solutions for solving the city’s problems. If you have a problem and can’t come up with a solution, I suggest you take it to Temple University’s […]

    Article · August 12, 2013 by

  • Journalism

    Project Liberty, cultivating startups in Philadelphia

    Introducing the Project Liberty Digital Incubator from Project Liberty Incubator on Vimeo Two years ago, I was excited to sit down and interview the first round of applicants for the Project Liberty New Media Incubator, an effort to bring innovation to the heart of traditional newsrooms and create a community of startups in Philadelphia. I […]

    Article · August 7, 2013 by

  • Arts

    Philadelphia grantees inform, connect, IgKnight

    Dale Mezzacopa – Philadelphia Public School Notebook – IgKnight Speaker from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. Last week, we had the inspiring opportunity to gather our grantees in Philadelphia at The Barnes Foundation. What was really unprecedented was that the grantees were from all of our portfolios. It was an opportunity to share, learn and connect beyond […]

    Article · July 1, 2013 by

  • Communities

    Engage Philadelphia: What happens when tech entrepreneurs and city leaders collaborate

    Photo credit: Flickr user Brad Jacobson *April 30 update: An archived link of the National League of Cities’ webinar on civic engagement in Philadelphia can be found online. The National League of Cities, as part of its work with Knight Foundation, is hosting a free webinar highlighting civic engagement in Philadelphia at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 24.  While many tech entrepreneurs […]

    Article · April 23, 2013 by

  • Arts

    Finalists named in Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia

    ​Photo Credit: BalletX Today we’re proud to share a group of new and innovative ideas to enrich Philadelphia’s cultural scene. Sixty-nine innovative ideas have been chosen as finalists in the 2013 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia. Arising from more than 1,200 applicants, the finalists below represent the rich cultural and artistic diversity of the city. From public […]

    Article · January 14, 2013 by