Over the next seven years, the Knight Foundation will give $70 million to community foundations in the 26 Knight communities where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers. The effort will help the Foundation focus on its ideal of fostering informed, engaged communities.

Since 1988, Knight has worked closely with community foundations in these cities, and believes they offer an important grassroots grasp of the issues that can help guide funding. From the release:

‘Information is an essential community need and community foundations were established to meet core needs,’ said Alberto Ibarügen, Knight Foundation’s president and CEO. ‘They also only exist and thrive because of community engagement and contributions. That makes them ideal partners to help us understand and advance local community engagement, focused on ensuring that these communities have the information they need to mange their affairs in our democracy.’

A new position will be created at Knight Foundation’s Miami headquarters to direct the initiative.

“Our goal is to better coordinate and focus our initiatives in the Knight communities and use our resources in the most effective way possible,’ said Trabian Shorters, Knight Foundation’s vice president for communities. ‘The new director will work together with foundation staff and advisory committees in each Knight community to guide the local foundations on use of the funds.’

Read the full news release for more details on the initiative.