Provide 1:1 match of Macon-Bibb County’s $600,000 contribution of American Rescue Plan Act funding to support construction of Historic Macon’s Beall’s Hill/Oglethorpe Street Affordable Multi-Family Rental Housing development.
Program Area: Communities
Provide 1:1 match of Macon-Bibb County’s $1M contribution of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to establish NewTown Macon’s Neighborhood Revolving Loan Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund will support residents’ purchase/renovation of 20+ blighted residential properties within Macon’s Urban Core neighborhoods and increase downtown inventory of quality, affordable workforce housing.
The grant is to be used as follows: To support the growth of CodePath.org, a nonprofit that addresses educational inequities in technical careers, in Miami through new and expanded programs at Florida International University, Florida Memorial University and Miami Dade College.
To provide a 1:1 match of Miami-Dade County’s $5,000,000 contribution and City of Miami’s $2,000,000 contribution of American Rescue Plan Act funding to Miami Dade College for the creation of new degree and certificate programs in applied AI and related emerging technologies, and the hiring of key faculty in these programs.
To engage a transatlantic cohort of 12 cities, including Charlotte and Philadelphia, comprised of 60 local mayors, public servants, and community leaders to explore and advance city practices in strengthening democracy specifically in the areas of voting and elections, governing, public safety and justice, and local journalism through a yearlong series of workshops, meetings, and public-facing events.
Since the start of the pandemic, nonprofits and governments across America worked quickly to ensure people had access to accurate information about COVID-19 prevention and treatment. This challenge was exacerbated by a rise in mis-and-dis information about the vaccines and a weakened local news ecosystem. In San Jose, the incredibly diverse community presented an added challenge; more than half our residents speak a language other than English at home.
The coronavirus tested San Jose and pushed us to our limit. Knight Foundation has a long history of investing in the city — where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published the San Jose Mercury News — and we’re continuing to double down on our investments to help the community move forward in its time of need. Last year, we invested over $1 million in San Jose through our COVID-19 relief commitments to support local nonprofits in getting critical information about the pandemic out to people in their primary language and in easy to access formats.
This year brings a pathway to recovery for San Jose with the widespread availability of vaccines. In Santa Clara County, where San Jose sits, officials had originally set a goal of vaccinating at least 85% of residents by August 1. As of May 7, 71.7% of county residents ages 16 and up have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Yet there are real challenges in getting our remaining residents vaccinated, especially in marginalized communities. Journalists at the San Jose Spotlight reported that one in 10 Santa Clara County residents are refusing a COVID-19 vaccine because of safety fears, misinformation and scheduling challenges. Like any medical decision, the choice to get vaccinated is a deeply personal one that needs to be made by carefully considering the information available and deciding to act to protect one’s health and the health of their community.
Knight’s central mission is to foster more informed and engaged communities, and we invest in ideas that give people access to information from trusted sources to better inform their own decisions and determine their futures. As communities have migrated to digital platforms to find news and information, our investments have also explored how we can harness the application of digital technology to support and grow community engagement. Digital approaches to connecting and informing people with different cultures, shared experiences, languages and abilities about complex and quickly changing information — such as multiple COVID-19 vaccines — goes to the heart of Knight’s Smart Cities focus, and it took on a special urgency during the chill of the pandemic.
In finding ways to encourage San Joseans — especially marginalized communities — to become more informed about the vaccines, Knight reached out to the City of San José to explore a range of support opportunities, ranging from subsidized rideshares to vaccines sites, to neighborhood vaccination vans, and to expanded testing and vaccinations sites across the community. In the course of our discussions, we learned about an organization called XOMAD that had successfully launched large groups of local trusted community messengers in grassroots social media campaigns to deliver public health information around COVID-19 in diverse communities in the state of New Jersey and the city of Columbia, S.C., as well as with health departments in Oklahoma and North Carolina. XOMAD’s groundbreaking work aligned with our collective goals to increase vaccination rates among our residents, especially those who are underserved and may not be easily reached. With Knight’s nearly $125,000 investment, XOMAD and the City of San José launched a pilot program in May.
In the pilot, XOMAD carefully recruited and paid a group of diverse San Jose community members — who already had established local online followings — to be trusted messengers. Their ongoing task is to use sponsored posts about the vaccines to connect with the friends and families in San Jose communities that are hardest to reach. City officials would provide information about the safety and availability of COVID-19 vaccinations as well as vaccination sites, and these trusted messengers would use their own local voices and languages to communicate that information to their social media followers. On May 6, the messengers’ first postings appeared on Instagram.
While it is too early to assess the pilot’s direct impact on vaccination rates, Knight will monitor and assess it later this year. Yet, we are reminded how valuable and catalytic social investing can be in San Jose when we can collaborate with innovative partners like the City of San José and XOMAD to help rapidly test innovation in the city during this crucial time.
Chris Thompson is the Knight Foundation’s program director in San José. Follow him on social media at @Thompson_KF.
The pilot program is a partnership between Knight Foundation, the City of San José and XOMAD to work with trusted community members through social media to increase vaccinations.
San José, Calif. (May 24, 2021) – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and XOMAD have partnered with the City of San José to launch a pilot campaign that recruits residents to use their diverse voices and languages to influence other residents in hard-to-reach communities to inform them about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, so they can get vaccinated.
Mis-and-disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines have sown fear and confusion nationwide, especially in marginalized communities. San Jose is no exception. Cultural trauma, distrust of authorities and a lack of transportation to vaccine sites have led to lower vaccination rates among the city’s Latinx and Black residents.
San Jose officials are looking to reach Santa Clara County’s vaccination goal of 85% of residents being fully vaccinated by August 1. They are taking an innovative approach of using social media messengers that people trust the most — their friends, neighbors and colleagues — to reach other San Jose residents with facts about the vaccines, so they can make informed decisions to protect themselves and their community.
With a $125,000 investment from Knight Foundation, City officials launched an outreach campaign with XOMAD, a digital word-of-mouth marketing agency, to utilize XOMAD’s proprietary Advisory Council platform. The platform identifies local micro and nano influencers — social media messengers with between 1,000 and 100,000 followers — and connects them with city officials to develop and broadcast public health information about the vaccines.
The City is leveraging these trusted messengers’ authentic relationships — specifically with members of the Vietnamese, Latinx and Black communities — to disseminate crucial information about the benefits of getting vaccinated and how to schedule shots by using their own unique voices and stories on social media. To help ensure accurate information is being delivered, all content is fact-checked by City officials before it goes live. In return, the messengers are paid for their creativity and time spent on crafting and sharing relatable content on their social networks.
“Our diverse communities are what make San Jose such a special place, and their health and wellness is our number one priority,” said Lee Wilcox, deputy city manager and director of the Emergency Operations Center. “This program gives us the opportunity to partner with residents to share vital vaccine information with their audiences to ensure we reach as many people as possible.”
The San Jose campaign will serve as a pilot from which other cities, civic groups, religious groups, or other organizations can discover new strategies to connect authentically within their own communities digitally and at scale.
“The coronavirus tested San Jose and pushed us to our limit,” said Chris Thompson, Knight’s San Jose program director. “Knight Foundation has a long history of investing in the city — where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published the San Jose Mercury News — and we’re continuing to double down on our investments to help the community move forward in its time of need.”
XOMAD has seen success with its Advisory Council platform in other areas of the country. They have successfully launched large groups of local trusted community messengers in grassroots social media campaigns to deliver public health information around COVID-19 in diverse communities in the state of New Jersey and the city of Columbia, S.C., as well as with health departments in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
“As we’ve seen in a variety of other cases, XOMAD’s Council is the ultimate democratic tool and platform where government officials and citizens may re-envision civic engagement in the digitally-connected age,” said Rob Perry, XOMAD founder and CEO. “Officials can connect directly with influential citizens, who then create calls to action to help their communities, including for younger audiences to help older relatives who can’t be otherwise reached digitally.”
The social media messengers involved in the campaign are spreading the word through hashtags #StayHealthySJ and #ThisIsOurShotSJ. On May 6, their first postings appeared on Instagram.
To learn more about COVID-19 vaccination clinics and vaccination safety in Santa Clara County, please visit http://sccfreevax.org/. To view the latest data pertaining to COVID-19 cases, testing, and vaccinations in Santa Clara County, please visit https://covid19.sccgov.org/dashboards.
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About the City of San José
With more than one million residents, San José is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States and is Northern California’s largest city and the 10th largest city in the nation. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center has resulted in one of the largest concentrations of technology companies and expertise in the world. In 2011, the City adopted Envision San José 2040, a long-term growth plan that sets forth a vision and a comprehensive road map to guide the City’s anticipated growth through the year 2040.
About Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit KF.org.
About XOMAD, LLC
XOMAD is the agency of choice for local and state governments, including California, New Jersey, Columbia SC, and Oklahoma City County Health Department, to engage with hard-to-reach communities via digital word-of-mouth programs. XOMAD specializes in community activations for civic engagement and crisis management. Each of their programs activate trusted community messengers via a dedicated Council platform for insights, innovations, and grassroots social media campaigns. XOMAD has been recently featured on CNN, CNBC, The Atlantic, and CBS stations. XOMAD also works in the private sector with major brands such as Clorox, L’Oreal, Walmart, Filemaker by Apple, Ocean Spray, and many more.
Image (top) by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.
Green Foothills operates the CALA leadership development program. This program has been important to help leaders in public space non-profits develop diverse leadership networks and build capability in the organizations that they represent.These funds will help the organization operate over the next two yearsand develop a pathway to sustainability.
To convene public technology leadership in Knight communities and share resources and best practices for leveraging investments in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) so that they can strengthen local government technology and improve service delivery to residents.
To increase Historic West End Partners’ organization capacity and maturity in order to serve as a sustainable resident-led hub for commercial and business development in Charlotte’s Historic West End.
To advance equitable development in Charlotte’s Historic West End by continuing support for the operations of the Charlotte branch of Local Initiatives Support Corp., and to support the creation of the Historic West End Commercial Development Fund.