John Bracken, Knight Foundation’s VP/media innovation (right) speaks with Beth Niblock, Detroit’s chief information officer.

Rebuilding a city requires epic fortitude: the ability to face down pessimism and rejection, overcome entrenched biases and sometimes start at the very beginning.

Beth Niblock joined Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s cabinet as chief information officer a year ago, arriving at City Hall to fix and upgrade the city’s creaky infrastructure, down to the old desktop computers and printers. Niblock is in charge of records management, various dispatch systems, the city’s website – anything IT related. A new water authority that is taking over management of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department adds another layer to her job: Some 200,000 meter-reading devices need upgrading

It isn’t sexy or exciting, she quipped, during a discussion sponsored by Knight Foundation at the Max M. Fisher Music Center Wednesday.

Yet, Niblock is a key player in an historic moment for Detroit, which is emerging from bankruptcy and shedding years of neglect like an old skin. Her sleeves are rolled up and she appears ready for the challenges.

Niblock was part of a gathering in Midtown Detroit of more than 70 Knight grantees who are on the frontline of the foundation’s mission of attracting and retaining talent, promoting economic opportunity and encouraging civic engagement. Fifteen representatives gave presentations about their work and Knight’s role in helping them achieve their vision – whether it’s renovating the historic structures on Belle Isle, a recreational island in the Detroit River just east of downtown; teaching groups of citizens about government; fostering small business ventures in the immigrant community; or creating protected bike lanes on one of the city’s main thoroughfares.

Niblock spoke in a soft Southern accent (she’s lived in Louisville, Ky., most of her life and, before coming to Detroit, served as that city’s CIO) about how the organizations she has encountered and admired over the years have been touched in one way or another by Knight Foundation, including a current open data project in Detroit designed to bring transparency to city government.

John Bracken, Knight’s vice president for media innovation, moderated the conversation with Niblock. 

Niblock and her team are making 107 data sets available to the public online, including municipal budgets and crime statistics (which are the most viewed) – with support from Knight and Rock Ventures. It hasn’t been easy; she and her team have had to clean up old data, and they’ve bumped up against the status quo. The Detroit Police Department wasn’t altogether on board at the beginning, but the crime data has “helped inform conversation” by enlightening and empowering residents, and she acknowledged that the police and other department heads have quickly adapted to and welcomed the project.

Eventually, the naysayers who have become accustomed to opacity “went from hell no to hell yeah,” Niblock said.

The “Go Data” project will also have an educational component. Niblock said seminars on accessing and understanding that data will be offered to residents and journalists.

One of Wednesday’s presenters was Dan Kinkead, project director of Detroit Future City. One project of Detroit Future City funded by Knight, Ideas for Innovation, is built around six of the most relevant issues facing Detroiters and then stimulates the exchange of ideas between disparate organizations and people. The group focuses on priorities such as employment for more Detroiters; regulatory reform; renewal of city systems; stabilizing neighborhoods; and transforming vacant land.

Wednesday’s convening “was informed and refreshing. It brought together people doing important work that is often overlooked, even by us,” said Kinkead. “When you see everybody together, you feel the breadth of it and the enormity of the challenges.”

Sheila Cockrel, a former Detroit City Council member (1994-2009), was also among the Knight grantees (Citizen Detroit) Wednesday. She remarked that the event enabled her to see the scope of Knight’s vision and mission. “You see the trajectory that is possible, the important impact it has on the city in the next phase of its rebirth.”

Katy Locker, Knight’s Detroit program director, said she organized the meeting to help ignite new ideas among innovators who are transforming Detroit.

“Bringing talented people together creates conversations that can lead them in new directions,” she said. “We want to foster those connections and support this creative energy as the city moves forward.”

Julie Edgar is a Detroit-based freelance writer. Email her at [email protected].