CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Dec. 15, 2015 – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced more than $4.3 million in new funding to three projects that will allow people to become involved in making Charlotte a more vibrant, connected place to live.
Related Link
“How Knight support for three projects will help build a more successful, vibrant Charlotte, N.C.” by Susan Patterson on Knight Blog, 12/15/2015
The organizations receiving support include:
• Foundation for the Carolinas | $1.6 million: Making Charlotte’s urban core more vibrant and creating new places for the community to connect, by renovating the historic Carolina Theatre at Belk Place and transforming it into a civic engagement space that will host town halls, symposiums and debates. New support reinforces Knight’s previous funding and will help with planning and establishment of interactive technology in the Carolina Theatre.
• Queen’s University of Charlotte | $500,000: Educating and engaging residents around news that affects their community by providing technology and lab equipment toward the renovation of the new Knight-Crane Hall, home of the James L. Knight School of Communication. Launched with funding from Knight in 2010, the school works to increase digital and media across Charlotte.
• Trees Charlotte | $2,240,000: Growing the city’s celebrated tree canopy to build attractive public spaces, where people of different ages and backgrounds can meet and connect. Trees Charlotte will continue recruiting volunteers to plant and care for city trees and expand marketing and staff development. Included is a $2 million endowment to provide ongoing support for the organization.
“From creating public spaces that invite people to participate in shaping their community to ensuring that residents have the information they need to meaningfully contribute to city growth, each of these organizations is helping to drive civic engagement and make Charlotte more of a place where people want to live and work,” said Susan Patterson, Knight Foundation program director for Charlotte.
“Through this support, gatherings at the Carolina Theatre will become meaningful conversations, from town hall meetings to cultural experiences,” said Foundation for the Carolinas president and CEO Michael Marsicano. “This grant will allow us to invest in technology that enables an interactive experience between the audience and stage presenters. This ‘civic forum’ concept will be the perfect bridge between the theater’s rich, historic past and its limitless, groundbreaking future.”
“This investment in Knight-Crane Hall moves the James L. Knight School of Communication into its critical next phase and furthers our reputation for leveraging new technologies to civically engaged ends,” said Eric Freedman, dean of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queen’s University. “The goal for the Knight-Crane Hall is to build an instructional space, a community space, and a research and development space to bring students, community members and community leaders together to engage in collaborative, holistic problem-solving, with a focus on digital media literacy, access and inclusion.”
“Knight Foundation recognizes good ideas and knows how to make them sprout. Building on their previous funding, this new support will help ensure Charlotte’s urban forest remains robust for many generations ahead. We are excited to build a brighter future in Charlotte,” said Dave Cable, managing director for Trees Charlotte.
Support for these initiatives forms part of Knight Foundation’s efforts in Charlotte to attract and keep talented people, expand economic opportunity and create a culture of engagement. Since 2008, Knight Foundation has invested more than $38 million in Charlotte including a vision plan to re-energize uptown’s North Tryon corridor, and recent support to a new business improvement initiative in the city’s Historic West End.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more visit knightfoundation.org.
About the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte
The mission of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte is to engage the university community and the city in an ongoing partnership to measurably improve digital and media literacy across the greater Charlotte area, strategize to close the digital divide, and foster the innovative and entrepreneurial application of new technologies to build civic capacity.
About Foundation for the Carolinas
Foundation for the Carolinas is a nonprofit community foundation serving donors and a broad range of charitable purposes in North and South Carolina. With assets of more than $1.5 billion, the foundation encourages and makes possible philanthropic giving by individuals of all means to benefit their communities. Visit www.fftc.org.
About TreesCharlotte
Established in 2012, TreesCharlotte is a nonprofit partnered with the City of Charlotte that is dedicated to expanding Charlotte’s tree canopy with the goal of attaining 50% tree canopy by 2050. Achieving this goal calls for planting 500,000 trees over the coming decades. In addition to planting trees, TreesCharlotte serves as stewards of the land, protecting trees from disease and educating the public about tree care. For more information about TreesCharlotte, visit www.treescharlotte.org.
Contact: Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 305-908-2646, [email protected]