DETROIT — An investment of $2.7 million in seven Detroit area education and community service organizations underscores the commitment of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to remain actively involved in Detroit and southeast Michigan despite recent changes in newspaper ownership.
The board of trustees of the independent Knight Foundation recently approved new grants ranging from $50,000 to $1 million through the foundation’s Community Partners Program. Grant funds will support community facilities, educational programs and local arts organizations, according to Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president and CEO.
Detroit Youth Foundation will receive $1 million over two years to help with renovations to its 75,000-square-foot YouthVille Detroit, a comprehensive youth development center located in the Northend neighborhood. Knight funds will help pay for construction of music activity rooms, including a recording studio and web-based radio station, along with other cultural and recreational facilities.
Marygrove College, Detroit, will receive $650,000 over three years to establish an Institute for Arts-Infused Education and expand its Onstage arts outreach programs. The institute will provide integrated arts/core curriculum units for 800 local public school students in grades three through five.
A two-year grant of $600,000 will enable the Child Care Coordinating Council of Detroit/Wayne County Inc., to provide a new computer training program and wireless Internet service for residents of several low-income neighborhoods.
Other organizations receiving Knight funds include:
- Communities in Schools of Detroit, $150,000 over two years, to improve computer, workforce and academic skills of adults and students in the Mack/ Alter community and to establish a wireless neighborhood.
- Neighborhood Centers Inc., Detroit, $140,000 to complete the final phase of development of the Ilona Varga neighborhood park.
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra, $100,000 to attract and retain diverse new audience members for performances and education programs.
- Habitat for Humanity Detroit, $50,000 for organization capacity building.
“Knight Foundation has a long history in the Detroit area. We intend to stay here and be an active member of this community in the years to come,” Ibargüen said.
Since 2003, Knight’s Detroit Community Advisory Committee, chaired by Geneva Williams, has recommended focusing much of the foundation’s philanthropy in the region on community development in six target areas, said Brenda G. Price, Knight’s community liaison program officer, who works closely with the 11-person advisory group. They include southwest Detroit, northwest Detroit, northeast Detroit/East Warren and Alter/Mack, north-central/7 Mile/Woodward, the Woodward corridor/East Grand Boulevard, and the east riverfront. Another key priority is increasing access and diversity among the arts and cultural organizations serving southeast Michigan, focusing particularly on communities of color, Price said.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of Detroit and 25 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers in their lifetimes.