MIAMI (Feb. 1, 2010) The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is accepting applications from community and place-based foundations seeking to fund news and information projects. The deadline for the Knight Community Information Challenge, a matching grant program, is March 8. Applications can be submitted at www.informationneeds.org.
Knight Foundation created the five-year contest to help local foundations find creative ways to fund media projects that inform and engage residents about pressing issues. So far, the Challenge has awarded $7.3 million for 45 ideas in communities large and small. The projects include funding public interest online news sites, creating online hubs to engage communities around specific issues and filling gaps in the types of news and information available locally.
“Local foundations are increasingly taking the initiative to meet their community’s information needs, a goal as important as ensuring an area has good schools, jobs and clean air,” said Trabian Shorters, Knight Foundation’s vice president for communities, who leads the Challenge.
J-lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism, has found that since 2005, foundations have awarded nearly $136 million in grants to 128 news and information projects nationwide.
Representatives from community or place-based foundations with questions about the Challenge can participate in one of two live chats to have queries answered online by Knight Foundation program officers. The live chats will take place at noon EDT Feb. 16 and 22 at www.informationneeds.org. Visit the site to learn more and sign up for a reminder.
Knight Foundation provides free consultants to help local foundations identify opportunities and the technology that could benefit their communities. In addition, Knight will host the third Media Learning Seminar March 1-2 in Miami. The seminar aims to educate leaders of community and place-based foundations about media trends and the information needs of communities in a democracy. Registration for the seminar is open through Feb. 15. To apply, learn more about the challenge or register for the Media Learning Seminar, visit www.informationneeds.org.
The Challenge is part of Knight’s Media Innovation Initiative, whose seven projects include an effort to explore national media reform, increase broadband access and transform journalism education, among others.
The Challenge complements the sweeping recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, a project of the Aspen Institute. In a report issued last fall, the commission asserts that democracy in America is threatened by the lack of equal access to quality information. The report is available at http://report.knightcomm.org.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed, engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org