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

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

Akron 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 Neal and other program directors to discover opportunities that produce maximum impact and lasting change in the communities they serve.

Akron’s appointed advisers are: Margaret Payne, chairman, Community Volunteer; Joe Kanfer, CEO, GOJO Industries; Anthony W. O’Leary, executive director, Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority; Honorable Linda Tucci Teodosio, judge, Summit County Juvenile Court; Gary Wyatt, president and founder, He Brought Us Out Ministry, Inc.

“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 Akron,” said Neal. “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 Akron and 25 other communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change.