The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has appointed four local community leaders to its Detroit Community Advisory Committee.

“These leaders will provide counsel to Knight Foundation as we seek to make grants in Detroit with the potential to transform the community,” said Brenda Price, the foundation’s program director for Detroit.

Detroit is one of 26 U.S. cities and towns served by Knight Foundation, a $2.3 billion national foundation with local roots where the Knight brothers owned newspapers in their lifetimes.

Community Advisory Committee members are an integral part of Knight Foundation’s grant-making work. Each committee is a small group of creative, connected and strategic advisers who work with Price and other program directors to discover opportunities that produce maximum impact and lasting change in the communities they serve.

Detroit’s appointed advisers are: Loretta G. Smith, vice president/Michigan CPA manager, Comerica Inc.; Larry C. Coppard Ph.D., senior consultant, Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan; Phillip Pierce, managing partner, Pierce, Monroe & Associates, LCC; Gary Torgow, CEO and chairman. Sterling Group.

“We thank these individuals for their leadership and willingness to share their knowledge and ideas as Knight Foundation explores how we can best invest in Detroit,” said Price. “We look forward to our future work together.”

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of Detroit and 25 other communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change.