WHAT WE FUND

Knight supports informed and engaged communities where the Knight brothers owned and operated newspapers. We believe an engaged community is one in which people are attached to the place where they live and are invested in the community’s future. Learn more through our Statement of Strategy.

Knight focuses on building a more engaged San Jose with a focus on creating vibrant public life—drawing people out of homes, offices and classrooms and into the community. In doing so, Knight seeks to create a safe, connected and people-focused city.

Our San Jose program focuses on: 

Creating competitively differentiated physical and virtual public spaces where people can come together, share information and ideas, build trust and commit to the city where they live, work, learn or play.

Provide platforms and resources for diverse talent to build power through networks and information so that they can work together to resolve complex issues that challenge San Jose.

Foster innovation and learning in systems to support vibrant public life like transportation, regional planning and economic development.

Knight also invests in arts and culture as a way to connect people to place and to one another. Investing in arts and culture is central to Knight’s effort to build stronger, better-informed and more engaged communities, which are critical for a more effective democracy. Learn more about Knight’s Arts program.

OUR WORK

Since 2008, Knight has invested more than $38 million to forward this mission, including supporting innovation in alternative transportation, building capacity at the regional think tank SPUR and reimagining the public spaces in San Jose’s urban core, whether it be downtown streets or urban parks like the Guadalupe River Park, Emma Prusch Park, St James Park or Backesto Park. Our investments seek to elevate and connect our incredibly diverse community voices and urban visionaries working in San Jose’s community organizations or civic government.

San Jose Community Advisory Committee Members:

Greg Woock, Pinger; Mohamed Abousalem, San Jose State University; Jonathan Becker, San Jose Sharks Sports and Entertainment; Mala Sharma, Adobe; Kyra Kazantzis, Silicon Valley Council for Nonprofits