Jim Boyle is senior program officer to the New Economy Initiative, a special project of the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan that Knight Foundation supports to help cultivate a network of entrepreneurs and innovators.

Real opportunity is never presented complete and wrapped in a bow. Rather, it is considered. It is discussed. It is empathy in action. There are questions posed. What is needed? How can we help? Who benefits? At its best, real opportunity is derived from a true shared vision.

For opportunity is not always about the “thing” being offered, the chance or perceived chance for advancement or assistance – be it a meal when you’re hungry or a quality education for your child. It’s about who’s presenting it, who’s been included in crafting it, who benefits from that advancement, and why. This is especially true in areas where trust is hard to come by.

It is with this in mind that I’ve become a fan of challenges such as the recently announced Knight Cities Challenge, a simple and open ask to the world, “What’s your best idea to make cities more successful?” Challenges act as platforms for developing shared understanding. They provide a place that is unprescribed, where questions can be called and considered through the process. They provide platforms for the empathy required from every perspective to achieve lasting change.

Taking a cue from Knight’s experience the New Economy Initiative is running a challenge in Detroit called NEIdeas: Rewarding Ideas for Business Growth. It is a simple ask to existing businesses in a startup-obsessed culture, “What’s your idea to grow your business.” At NEI, we’ve learned that inclusion must be intentional and two-way, so we are taking our work to the community with the challenge instead of a pre-determined solution. Specifically, we are targeting businesses that are more than 3 years old in Detroit (the bulk of which are minority-owned and operated), and we are seeing an overwhelming response from those communities.

Nearly 600 businesses from the far reaches of the city – many who have been disconnected from Detroit’s entrepreneurial movement and some of the services that are driving it – have responded. NEIdeas is providing $500,000 in grants to help 32 of those businesses execute their ideas. More importantly, the challenge is helping to stimulate conversations with and among Detroit businesses – the type of conversations that are based on their real needs, not our perception of those needs, and what tools they require to succeed and grow.

At NEI, our role as conveners, observers and collaborators is often more important than our role as grantmaker. Whether it be the Microloan Collaborative we helped form or our NEI Street Level program where staff are working at co-working spaces around the city to better embed ourselves and understand the entrepreneurial ecosystem we serve, these activities stimulate empathy – and that makes us better grantmakers.

As Knight so keenly understands, creating an opportunity in a vacuum and pointing someone to it carries a risk. Asking people what opportunities they desire, what their city desires? Now that might get you somewhere.

And so they ask. What’s your idea?

What’s your best idea to make cities more successful? The Knight Cities Challenge offers applicants a chance to share in $5 million by focusing on that question. The contest will test the most innovative ideas in talent, opportunity and engagement in one or more of 26 Knight Foundation communities. The challenge is open for entries through 5 p.m. Eastern Time Friday, Nov. 14. Apply at KnightCities.org.