WEST PALM BEACH, Feb. 3, 2004 – The Center for Creative Education in West Palm Beach will expand its arts-based education programming for middle school youth from low-income families, using $385,000 in new grant funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. After-school classes at six sites in Riviera Beach and northwest West Palm Beach neighborhoods will bring young people together with artists and educators to encourage students’ inter-disciplinary learning and positive self-expression.
The three-year grant award to the Center for Creative Education was one of five new grants totaling nearly $700,000 awarded to Palm Beach County organizations for programs serving middle school-age youth in the county. Other grants went to The Mentor Center ($150,920), Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches ($82,000), PRIMETIME Palm Beach County ($50,000) and the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition ($30,000).
Over the next five years, Knight expects to invest more than $14 million in nonprofit agencies providing youth and family services in Palm Beach County, according to Suzette L. Prude, Knight’s community liaison program officer for the region. The Miami-based foundation, a major national funder with a long history of grant making in the Boca Raton area, has now expanded grant making in Palm Beach County and is focusing on needs identified by a local community advisory group.
“These grant awards demonstrate the foundation’s commitment to improve the lives and opportunities of young people in some of the county’s most disadvantaged urban and rural areas,” Prude said. “They are also an indication of the new direction of Knight funding, which is based on local community knowledge and building strong partnerships with local organizations.”
“Palm Beach County has the distinction of having some of the nation’s wealthiest residents and some of its poorest. Based on the recommendations of our community advisory committee, we have established a priority of helping youth and families in Riviera Beach, the City of West Palm Beach’s northwestern neighborhoods, and in the Glades communities of Belle Glade, South Bay and Pahokee.”
Prude said these neighborhoods were selected because they include large proportions of low-income families. Middle school programming was targeted after community research showed that the county has many high-quality early-childhood programs, but a large gap in programming for children in sixth through eighth grades.
At their December 2003 board meeting, Knight trustees voted to increase grant funding to Palm Beach County more than three-fold, from $800,000 in 2003 to $2.8 million for 2004. The additional resources prompted the advisory committee to recommend an additional funding priority, focusing on partnerships that will increase family economic well-being.
Established in 1950, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism and invests in the vitality of the 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. The foundation, a local funder in Palm Beach County for decades, is separate and independent from publisher Knight Ridder Inc.