Recently at Knight Foundation, we partnered with Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement to host a TED-style learning event that gave Detroit – and the country’s – leading thinkers on civic engagement a chance to share their insights. 

During the “Civic Showcase and Learning: New Approaches to Community Engagement,” the participants shared ways they using social media and digital tools to mobilize citizens, fundraise for non-profits, gamify the urban planning processes, recognize unsung heroes, follow vacant property auctions, vote in the upcoming elections and more.

Sound exciting? Well, it was!

The result? A morning full of inspiration and learning in the intimate, elegant space that is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Music Box.

If you’re craving a detailed summary of the day’s learnings, stay tuned to Knight Blog for a full report on the conference that we will release in a few weeks with our partners at the Center for Michigan.

In the meantime, have a firsthand look at all the work of our compelling speakers, many of whom are supported by Knight:

• Community PlanIt and Detroit 24/7 (Dan Pitera & Priya Iyer)
• Everyday Democracy (Martha McCoy)
• BMe (Black Male Engagement) (Darryl Redmond)
• Loveland Technologies (Jerry Paffendorf)
• Michigan Corps, Kiva Detroit, Detroit4Detroit (Elizabeth Garlow, Delphia Simmons, Trish Dewald)
• Personal Democracy Forum (Andrew Rasiej)
• Publius.org (Vince Keenan)

By Rishi Jaitly, program director/Detroit at Knight Foundation

Related: “Growing citizen philanthropy in Detroit and Philadelphia,” “Detroit’s BME Leadership Award Winners address community issues” and “Gaming city planning: Community PlanIt in Detroit“