Minneapolis – June 1, 2004 – Lake Street and Payne Avenue are two commercial and residential areas in the Twin Cities with rich and vibrant histories. In both of these corridors, new and established communities are bringing fresh energy and creating exciting opportunities. Payne-Lake Community Partners, an initiative to accelerate investments in these vital Twin Cities corridor areas, will be unveiled today at simultaneous events on Lake Street in Minneapolis and Payne Avenue in St. Paul.

Initial Payne-Lake Community Partners are the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, The McKnight Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Neighborhood Development Center, and Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

People living, working and investing around Lake Street and Payne Avenue are reinvigorating these corridor areas. Commercial and social life once again are flourishing, fueled by the energy and vitality created both by established Minnesota business owners and residents and new immigrants to our state. They are creating regional destinations that generate prosperity and opportunity for themselves and others.

Payne-Lake Community Partners will accelerate investments in the two corridor areas. Payne-Lake Community Partners also will help strengthen connections within the communities to support an effective infrastructure to develop and promote policies.

“One of the distinguishing features of the Payne-Lake Community Partners is our comprehensive approach to supporting multicultural, mixed income communities that prosper,” said Rip Rapson, president of The McKnight Foundation. “Most major cities are confronted with this challenge, and unfortunately, role models are few. Community corridors such as Payne Avenue and Lake Street are the ‘front porches’ of our neighborhoods, cities and regions. It is critically important that we tap into the energy of these neighborhoods that have stimulated new economic opportunity, stability and development for neighboring businesses and residents in recent years.”

“The Twin Cities has a singular opportunity to incorporate the social and economic advancement of new Americans – Asian, African and Hispanic immigrants – into the broader growth and prosperity of specific neighborhoods, the surrounding communities, and the region as a whole,” said Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is based in Miami.

Payne-Lake Community Partners is envisioned as a 10-year effort; over time, the initiative has targeted four outcomes:

• Vibrant, diverse neighborhoods that are long-term social, economic and cultural anchors;
• Net new financial resources and sustained investment for individual and community benefit;
• Alignment of government and private resources; and
• Enhanced knowledge about neighborhood and urban development.

It will reach these results through complementary strategies:

• Accelerate and expand opportunities for recent immigrants and people of color to build their assets and earning power and move into the middle class;
• Revitalize commercial corridors as the anchors of attractive, vital and prosperous neighborhoods, with links to the regional economy; and
• Engage public and private partners to align resources, strategies and policies to maximize impact.

Payne-Lake Community Partners emerges from a national funding collaborative called Living Cities: the National Community Development Initiative. Living Cities is a partnership of leading foundations, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations and the federal government. Its mission is to focus knowledge, capacity, and investments that improve the lives of people in urban neighborhoods. The McKnight and Knight Foundations are among the 17 funders of Living Cities. Living Cities, through LISC, has invested more than $12 million over the past decade in St. Paul and Minneapolis community revitalization efforts.

In late 2002, Living Cities asked The McKnight Foundation to plan a new initiative in the Twin Cities using a collaborative model to invest strategically in select neighborhoods. Similar efforts are underway in Chicago, Baltimore and Miami, led, respectively, by the MacArthur Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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About The McKnight Foundation

Founded in 1953 and endowed by William L. McKnight and Maude L. McKnight, the Foundation has assets of approximately $1.9 billion and granted about $75 million in 2003. Mr. McKnight was one of the early leaders of the 3M Company, although the Foundation is independent of 3M. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.mcknight.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of St. Paul and 25 other U.S. communities. Founded in 1950, Knight invests in communities where the Knight brothers had newspaper interests. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.knightfdn.org.