Making decisions about your Wednesday morning sessions at the Council on Foundations’ Fall Conference? Here are five reasons why we think you should attend the session on “Informed and Engaged Communities Through Journalism and Media Grant Making,” beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Yerba Buena Ballroom, Salon ¾.

 Attend if you are:

–       Thinking about investing in media grant making and/or journalism but aren’t quite sure how to go about it: To get your juices flowing, Knight Foundation’s Eric Newton will be talking about our new publication on five things you need to know about journalism and media grant making, and five ways to get started. Copies of the publication will be available at the session, too.

–       Curious about how other foundations are making an impact through investing in news and information: We have lots of examples of successful projects helping foundations to move the needle on issues they care about. You can also pick up a copy of our new report on three foundation’s projects: Opportunities for Leadership: Meeting Community Information Needs.

–       Looking for a way to boost your community engagement efforts: As Silicon Valley Community Foundation Emmett Carson recently said: “Good information is a cornerstone of civic engagement at its best.” Read our recent blog post about how many Knight Community Information Challenge winners, including Silicon Valley Community Foundation, are using information to engage residents around important issues.

–       Want to be the first to know who won this year’s Knight Community Information Challenge: We’ll be announcing the fourth round winners and talking about their projects.

–     Interested in asking questions of people with deep experience in community news and information:  You’ll have the chance to ask questions of and talk to Knight Foundation’s Eric Newton, a former award-winning journalist and now special adviser to the foundation’s president, Trabian Shorters, who leads the Community Information Challenge, consultant and journalist Michele McClellan, and Program Directors Susan Patterson and Bahia Ramos-Synnott. Also, many community foundations already engaged in the field will be there.

Knight Foundation launched the Community Information Challenge to engage community and place-based foundations in meeting local information needs. As newspapers and other traditional media continue to struggle, Knight believes there is an increasingly important role for community foundations and place-based foundations to play in helping groups provide local news and information.

The challenge offers matching grants to North American community and place-based foundations, technical help to foundations from consultants, and an annual conference for foundation leaders called the Media Learning Seminar.

Read about how three community foundations have made an impact on their community, and strengthened their leadership by investing in this area, and learn more at www.informationneeds.org.

If you’re interested in the session but aren’t at the conference follow @knightfdn, which will live-tweet the event. Be sure to use the hashtag #infoneeds to participate in the conversation.