Studying Innovation in San Jose: The MOMENT Project

In 2015, Knight Foundation awarded a grant to the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) to study and implement options to transform the ground floor of the San Pedro Square parking garage into a vibrant retail incubator. Like many parking structures, the San Pedro Square garage interrupted the streetscape’s flow and rendered the east side of the street lifeless. This was during a time when the San Pedro Square Market was itself beginning to bustle. The SJDA wanted to explore two innovations:

Could small, supported retail spaces with direct street access attract new entrepreneurs and help establish them in San Jose’s downtown?

Could ground-floor garage parking spaces be converted to micro-retail stores that would be affordable for entrepreneurs and create a vibrant streetscape?

The MOMENT Project was born. It was conceived as four small retail spaces where entrepreneurs could launch a small business. It was created by removing parking spaces on the ground floor of a downtown parking garage and converting them to storefronts. Once opened, MOMENT provided an immediate boost to the vibrancy of San Pedro Square.

Fast forward to 2021. San Jose is moving through one of its greatest disruptions to downtown life since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. It’s a time when the threats to peoples’ health and livelihoods are real and public spaces have emerged as places to recharge, connect and enjoy food. In the case of San Pedro Square, one might say that outdoor dining for downtown residents has helped keep restaurants and businesses on life support while people who normally worked and attended events nearby stayed away.

During fall of 2020, Knight and Gehl studied MOMENT and six other public space projects in Philadelphia, Detroit and Akron to identify what made them successful and offer recommendations for building resilient and inclusive cities. Knight launched the study because we are an opportunistic social investor; we seek innovative and sustainable opportunities that align with our strategies. As such, Knight is constantly seeking to understand the success and failure of our investments, and honoring both.

MOMENT proved that micro-retail could work in San Jose, which is important as the city revitalizes the SoFA District and Google plans to build a nearby campus. By placing this project adjacent to San Pedro Square and the downtown Farmers’ Market, MOMENT was able to capitalize on the traffic generated by both, while becoming a draw in its own right.

However, MOMENT showed that its success was location dependent and that such a project wouldn’t necessarily work everywhere because micro-retailing needed to compliment the primary use of a commercial area. Site limitations at MOMENT and low sales volumes meant that retailers often operated as sole proprietors without staff, and they often couldn’t keep operating hours to capture foot traffic from the busiest periods at San Pedro Square Market. Early on in the project, downtown residential density was lower, so that retail sales were dependent on whether customers—whose original destination was San Pedro Square—were willing to carry their purchases with them to work, an event, or out to dinner. With increasing residential density, this concern is becoming mitigated as residents who live nearby are now becoming customers turning MOMENT into a primary destination.

During the pandemic, San Pedro Street has been partially closed to traffic. This has improved the viability of nearby restaurants and has improved MOMENT’s visibility and usability. For example, MOMENT businesses have been able to conduct outdoor workshops.

The MOMENT Project illustrated that retrofitting urban spaces for micro-retail would be cost-prohibitive without philanthropic support because converting parts of existing structures into micro-retailing sites is more expensive than building new sites.

But MOMENT also highlights the importance of micro-retailing as a vehicle to establish financial security for entrepreneurs. The collaborative spirit of the project and the commitment from the City of San Jose and SJDA to keep rents low has helped ensure MOMENT’s financial viability. As long as tenants can make short-terms leases work, MOMENT offers a much lower barrier-to-entry than would be faced at a mainstream storefront. This lets entrepreneurs experiment with the retail business model and find a mix that works before expanding.

As the community re-imagines the SoFA District, there’s a lot to be learned from the innovation at MOMENT—and from the six other public space projects across the U.S surveyed in the Knight report—all of which can be read about here. Later in April, the SJDA and Gehl will discuss the MOMENT Project in more detail during a community meeting; you can watch the events feed at sjdowntown.com for updates.

Chris Thompson is Knight Foundation’s program director for San Jose. Follow him on Twitter @Thompson_KF.

Image (top) by the San Jose Downtown Association.

Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond

Public Spaces: A platform to connect during COVID-19 and build equitable cities beyond

Landmark study reveals importance of parks and recreational amenities in San Jose, but a gap in access exists

Knight Foundation invests $554,000 in St. Paul to expand economic opportunity and community safety. Jai Winston, Knight’s program director for St. Paul, shares more below.

Like every community across the nation, St. Paul faced complex challenges last year. A deadly and highly transmissible virus shuttered the city and kept residents largely indoors. The killing of George Floyd in nearby Minneapolis challenged St. Paul residents to once again reckon with race and decide how to break down the walls of inequity.

But through adversity there were opportunities for the city to not only persevere, but to thrive. The pandemic motivated the people of St. Paul to make their city more equitable, inclusive and resilient during these uncertain times and beyond. We at Knight Foundation share their commitment to equity and inclusiveness; we have long invested in St. Paul’s efforts to put people first, whether it’s expanding equitable economic opportunities or growing the downtown corridor.

With that in mind, we are continuing to bet on St. Paul’s success by investing $554,000 in two local organizations that are committed to creating more economic opportunities for communities of color, and a third that is charting a new approach to public safety.

Here’s a closer look at our investments:

Nexus Community Partners ($250,000): The Nexus organization builds more engaged and powerful communities through engagement, ownership and leadership. Knight’s investment will support the Minnesota Philanthropic Collective, currently housed at Nexus, specifically supporting its Minnesota Holistic Black Movement Fund. The Fund will harness the leadership of Minnesota’s Black communities and explore ways of building and sustaining more economic opportunities in communities of color.

2043 SBC ($104,000): With Knight’s support, 2043, a data-first public-private-philanthropic partnership approach, led by Jeff Aguy, will expand local economic opportunities by gathering data on St. Paul’s entrepreneurial activity in the city, including on demographics, services provided, revenues and more. This data will be used by local and state government, philanthropic groups and other organizations that seek to expand entrepreneurship in the area. The data exchange platform will also make it easier for startups — especially those led by minorities — to share data, network with each other and with larger potential partners.

City of St. Paul’s Community-First Public Safety Initiative ($200,000): The City of Saint Paul Community-First Public Safety Initiative brings a data-driven and evidence-based approach to identify and address the root causes of neighborhood safety concerns. Launched in 2020 by Mayor Carter, the initiative prioritizes investments that improve community connectivity, supports and designs public spaces for safety and enhances the capacity of public safety systems. With Knight support and resident input, the City will expand on the Community-First Public Safety framework through ongoing engagement and investment.

Since 2000, Knight has invested more than $40 million in St. Paul projects and initiatives that have boosted economic opportunities, expanded downtown and made public spaces more inclusive and equitable – ultimately enhancing quality of life for St. Paul residents. For example, we supported the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, a collaborative of foundations that led to the development of the Green Line light rail that has connected communities near the rail with economic opportunities. We have also supported the St Paul Downtown Alliance, which promotes a vibrant economy in downtown St. Paul by attracting new investments, emphasizing safety and recruiting new employers.

Last December, we also announced a $2.2 million investment in seven local arts and culture organizations. This included $1.5 million to relocate the prestigious Playwright’s Center to St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone, a hub of creativity and enterprise located mid-city between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.

COVID-19 knocked St. Paul to the ground. But we got up and became stronger and more resilient. As program director for Knight’s St. Paul program, I see this resilience first-hand. And it’s why Knight is doubling down on its commitment to the people of St. Paul as they rebuild, innovate and create equitable communities, where informed and engaged citizens can thrive. When they succeed, democracy succeeds.

I look forward to continuing to elevate our beloved city by creating equitable economic opportunities for all residents and putting St. Paul on the map as a hub for innovative ideas. The future of our city has never been brighter.

Jai Winston is Knight’s program director in St. Paul.

Image (top) by Visit Saint Paul.

Knight Foundation invests $2.2 million in seven creative organizations in St. Paul

St. Paul: A city comes into the spotlight

St. Paul

On March 24, 2021, Knight Foundation released “Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond”, a Knight-commissioned report examining seven public spaces across the U.S. to identify what made them successful and to offer recommendations for developing equitable and inclusive spaces beyond the pandemic. Click here to see the report. Knight’s Lilly Weinberg and Evette Alexander share more below.

A year has passed since COVID-19 transformed our lives, paradoxically accelerating our adoption of virtual spheres while increasing our reliance on outdoor public spaces that have the power to connect and attach us to community.

We’ve witnessed record usage of these public spaces, underlining how important they are to the resilience of communities. COVID-19 provided an unexpected moment of permission — it allowed our cities to innovate and think far beyond the confines of traditional public spaces. And it has been a moment to acknowledge the racial inequities that persist in our cities. Which leaves us with the question: how can we leverage this moment in time, when billions of stimulus and other federal dollars are being released for infrastructure projects, to build more inclusive, equitable public spaces moving forward?

At Knight Foundation, we value the power of public spaces to connect and attach community members. We’ve invested $54 million towards public spaces that are accessible and welcoming to all walks of life, and we see them as central to building informed and engaged communities. That’s why we commissioned Gehl, a global leader in people-centric urban design, to conduct an impact-assessment study of seven flagship public spaces sites operating before and during the pandemic.

The report released today, “Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond,” holds insights for urbanists, foundations, community advocates, public officials and private-sector leaders interested in how responsive public spaces can thrive and be a vehicle for communities to address equitable development.

The study leverages a variety of pre-pandemic and mid-pandemic data for seven outdoor public spaces — prime examples of neighborhood parks, city-wide destinations and nature oases — operating across four cities: Akron (Summit Lake Park), Detroit (Ella Fitzgerald Park, Detroit Riverfront), Philadelphia (Centennial Commons, Cherry Street Pier and The Discovery Center) and San Jose (MOMENT). Gehl conducted interviews, surveys and focus groups with residents; analyzed data collected online from visitors; and compiled existing and new observational data on each space.

The findings are illuminating, and point to a more impactful path for inclusive public space investment amid the COVID-19 recovery and beyond:

Spaces that reflected resident needs, historic character and the arts had more regular visits from residents.

Community participation and responsive engagement methods allowed space organizers to build trust and enthusiasm with residents of color.

Prioritizing and embedding resident engagement throughout the entire lifecycle led to community ripple effects like wider local capacity-building and community development beyond the project site.

Flexible community-led design, inclusive processes and capacity-building helped sites develop sustainable operating models and adapt to changing conditions — including the pandemic.

Findings remind us that the fundamentals matter: public spaces work best when they intentionally cater to the needs, history and issues relevant to residents. And these same community engagement principles enabled them to adapt and thrive amid COVID-19. For example, daily visitorship was up over 300% year over year at Philadelphia’s Cherry Street Pier, which provided spaces for local artists, a market for displaced small businesses and a garden restaurant adapted for pandemic conditions. At the Detroit Riverfront, residents self-organized regular yoga and flamenco classes, helping the space achieve last year’s visitor numbers in half the time.

As cities emerge from the pandemic, these lessons illustrate the power of public spaces as a platform for community development and addressing deeply rooted, systemic inequalities in our communities that COVID-19 only exacerbated. Open public spaces do not always translate into welcoming, safe or accessible spaces for communities of color, and the racial justice movement that played out in many public spaces in 2020 served to highlight these realities. Concerns raised by the Black community about policing is an issue some sites are addressing head on in order for residents — particularly Black men — to feel safe and welcome in these spaces long term.

To address equity, organizers must consider how they might share and shift decision-making power throughout the entire lifecycle of a public space, from initial design through governance, to include residents as partners. Detroit’s Ella Fitzgerald Park used pilots like a pop-up bike repair shop to reach residents typically under-represented at community meetings. Now, Black residents report that the park is special to them, and over half of the neighborhood visits weekly. The benefits of such engagement methods are clear: increased resident usage that helps deepen attachment to their cities.

For city leaders, policymakers, practitioners and funders like ourselves, these findings are a call to action to ensure that barriers to public spaces are reduced for all communities and that all feel a sense of belonging and welcome at every park, pier and civic common. For that to happen, planners and designers need to focus on resident needs for both the design and programming of these spaces.

COVID-19 has sparked a unique opportunity for innovation as communities rapidly repurposed public spaces during the pandemic. We can observe and learn from the ways residents have been self-organizing activities in these spaces during the pandemic — from socially distant hula hooping and flamenco, to neighborhood streets being used as civic commons — and from new ways technology can be leveraged to improve decision-making and engagement.

With the availability of more federal dollars for infrastructure, the leadership of our communities — advocates, city administrators, public and private sector leaders — have a historic opportunity to put the funding to good use by supporting equitable, accessible and engaging spaces that support more resilient cities. Now is the time to invest in community-led and empowering public spaces that can adapt to changing needs of residents during these uncertain times and beyond.

Lilly Weinberg is senior director for community and national initiatives and Evette Alexander is a director of learning and impact at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Image (top) of Detroit Riverfront Valade Park by Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

Knight Report: Public Spaces that put residents first were more equitable and thrived during the pandemic

Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond

Community Ties: Understanding what attaches people to the place where they live

Studying Innovation in San Jose: The MOMENT Project

Knight-commissioned report examines seven public spaces across the U.S. to identify what made them successful; offers recommendations for developing equitable and inclusive spaces beyond the pandemic.

MIAMI — (Mar. 24, 2021) — Public spaces that emphasized community engagement thrived during COVID-19 and became a vehicle for addressing racial equity issues in the community, according to a new report from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Its key findings are timely and invaluable for local governments that are set to receive federal dollars, and funders from nonprofit and private sectors, as they seek to ensure that public spaces are equitable and inclusive for all residents.

Commissioned by Knight and conducted by Gehl, “Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond,” evaluates the success of a number of public spaces currently operating and makes recommendations for improving these spaces in the future. Its insights are crucial for foundations, community advocates, public and private sector leaders and urbanists as they reimagine existing public spaces or build new ones that are engaging, welcoming and accessible to all walks of life, now and beyond the pandemic.

Leveraging a variety of pre-pandemic and mid-pandemic data, the Knight report evaluates seven public spaces operating across four cities: Philadelphia, Detroit, San Jose and Akron. They include neighborhood parks, natural green spaces and citywide destinations like waterfront retail hubs. Each has been in operation for several years, including during the pandemic, allowing Gehl to evaluate the spaces before and during COVID-19. Gehl conducted interviews, surveys and focus groups with residents; analyzed data collected online from visitors; and compiled existing and new observational data on each space.

Key findings include:

Spaces that reflected resident needs, historic character and the arts had more regular visits from residents. Residents spent more time in public spaces where community engagement was built in from the start, and those who visited more often were more attached to their communities.

Community participation and responsive engagement is vital for equitable spaces. Prototyping and pilots designed to engage communities of color allowed space organizers to build trust and enthusiasm with Black residents.

Prioritizing community engagement throughout the lifecycle of a space led to ripple effects in the wider community. Embedding resident engagement from design through governance led to wider local capacity-building and community development beyond the project site.

Flexible community-led design, inclusive processes and capacity-building helped sites develop sustainable operating models and adapt to changing conditions — including the pandemic. Community engagement enabled projects to pivot programming and provide safe venues for solo and social activity during COVID-19.

The report also offered recommendations for optimizing public space design:

Create spaces with equity in mind. To address challenges around inclusion and trust among communities of color, planners should conduct outreach and fund community participation efforts from initial design to programming to governance.

Design spaces with the input of communities that are impacted. To manage residents’ concerns about displacement, public space investments should be integrated into broader community development processes, with buy-in from all parties.

Become financially sustainable. To create sustainable operating models, planners should create innovative and diversified means of funding, incorporating both foundation dollars and public revenue streams.

“Public spaces played a key role in helping us get through the pandemic by providing access to fresh air, recreation and each other in a safe way,” said Lilly Weinberg, Knight’s senior director for community and national initiatives. “With federal dollars flowing into cities, we must now leverage the momentum to build back responsive, community-led public spaces that can be a vehicle for communities to address equitable development. This report provides valuable insights on how to do that by giving residents a voice — from design to governance — of public spaces to ultimately be a platform to improve their quality of life.”

This latest report complements the findings of another Knight study released last year that examined what connects people to their communities. One of the largest surveys of its kind, “Community Ties: Understanding what attaches people to the place where they live,’’ presented several key findings, including that residents who feel they had easy access to recreational spaces had more positive feelings regarding their communities.

To be connected with Lilly Weinberg to discuss the report or the issue of public spaces more broadly, please contact Tony Franquiz at 202-374-5393 or [email protected].

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About the John S. and James L. 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.

Image (top) of Summit Lake Park, Akron by Tim Fitzwater.

Communities

Public Spaces: A platform to connect during COVID-19 and build equitable cities beyond

Communities

Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond

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Community Ties: Understanding what attaches people to the place where they live

Full Reports

Adaptive Public Space: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond

Download [PDF, 16 MB]

Building on its longtime commitment to public spaces, Knight Foundation commissioned Gehl — a global urban planning, design and strategy firm — to conduct an impact assessment of seven public spaces in its portfolio. The findings illustrate the power of public space as a platform for community development: whether by building resident trust, spurring social activity, supporting economic and workforce development, or catalyzing neighborhood change.

This power makes public spaces a key ingredient in the recovery from COVID-19 — a crisis that has raised the stakes for overcoming deeply rooted, systemic challenges in our cities. For policymakers, funders, and practitioners, these findings are a call to action. By elevating public spaces, leaders nationwide can drive more equitable outcomes in the pandemic and beyond.

The Approach

Located in Akron, Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Jose, the seven projects in this study represent $5 million in direct Knight investments. An additional $50 million in co-funding and follow-on investments from other funders including the Reimagining the Civic Commons network went toward these sites, wider area improvements and ongoing space operations. The spaces range widely: neighborhood parks that give residents a go-to gathering spot; nature spaces that re-engage locals with the outdoors; and citywide destinations that offer art studios, beachscapes, and more.

Given the diversity of spaces, this study did not set out to measure the spaces against one another using a common set of metrics. The goal was to understand impacts related to four core themes, and to life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Findings Include:

Spaces that reflected resident needs, historic character and the arts had more regular visits from residents.

Community participation and responsive engagement is vital for equitable spaces.

Prioritizing community engagement throughout the lifecycle of a space led to ripple effects in the wider community.

Flexible community-led design, inclusive processes, and capacity-building helped sites develop sustainable operating models and adapt to changing conditions — including the pandemic.

The report also offered recommendations for optimizing public space design:

Create spaces with equity in mind.

Design spaces with the input of communities that are impacted.

Become financially sustainable.

Image (top) of The Discovery Center in Philadelphia by Halkin Mason Photography and Digsau.

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To support the general mission of encouraging Black youth to enter the aviation industry and increase website engagement

To support NewTown Macon in increasing the number of Black-owned businesses in downtown Macon by improving access to capital and providing extensive coaching and training for entrepreneurs.

On Feb. 25, 2021, Knight Foundation announced nearly $2 million in support for projects catalyzing equity in Detroit’s Historic North End. Knight’s Nathaniel Wallace shares more below. See the press release here.

Over the last five years, Knight Foundation has proudly supported Detroit’s small businesses, journalism, and arts and culture with the belief that an informed and engaged citizenry should chart its own course and determine its own future.

As we move into 2021, the rapid change in Detroit is palpable. Cautionary tales of other big cities loom large — as investments pour into chronically disinvested Black neighborhoods, it often results in pricing out, resident displacement and the rewriting of area history. Detroiters are eager for change long overdue, but until we’re given the tools and resources to forge our own paths and write our own stories, we risk the same fate.

This year, Knight is narrowing our focus and doubling down on prioritizing equity throughout our work in Detroit. As social investors, our role is to support our community partners as they work to achieve transformative impact; that means bringing community ideas that will have real, long-lasting change to life. That also means supporting work that attracts and nurtures talent, leans into opportunity and fosters civic engagement.

In Detroit, Knight’s work will focus on the Historic North End, a historically Black neighborhood, which is experiencing significant private and commercial investment. As we leverage the momentum around economic growth in the area, our vision is to support a portfolio of projects that are representative of the city, and will help residents shape the North End into an equitable, thriving and connected residential and commercial corridor.

Our North End investments will be centered around equity with a focus on:

Catalytic commercial projects centered on the fundamental needs of the North End
The creation and reimagining of equitable, innovative and sustainable public spaces that strengthen neighborhood cohesion
Support for projects that foster equitable economic development

To start this work, today we’re announcing nearly $2 million in support for two important projects in the area: the Vanguard Community Development Corporation’s transformation of East Grand Boulevard into a pedestrian friendly neighborhood main street and a partnership with the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm and University of Michigan to transform a vacant home into a thriving community library.

This is just the beginning of our work in the Historic North End. We envision an equitable community that’s shaped by its residents, helping to catalyze support for community driven projects in the neighborhood. As more investments come from Knight, we look forward to partnering alongside the community’s vision and joining in the work to make the North End thrive.

Nathaniel Wallace is program director for Detroit at Knight Foundation.

Projects with Vanguard CDC and University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning will provide neighborhood residents with a new library and an attractive main street.

DETROIT — February 25, 2021 — The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced nearly $2 million in support for projects that accelerate equitable growth in Detroit’s Historic North End. Knight support will be used to help transform the area into a pedestrian-friendly destination in partnership with Vanguard Community Development Corporation (CDC) and design a community-oriented library with the University of Michigan (U-M) Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Knight’s commitment is part of its ongoing strategic focus to help advance the historically Black neighborhood, which is experiencing an influx of economic growth as local funders and community organizations invest in the area. Both North End projects will use Knight support to foster equitable and sustainable growth in the neighborhood.

The grants are just the first of many investments Knight plans to make in the area as part of its mission to build informed and engaged communities. Here’s a closer look at both projects:

Vanguard Community Development Corporation ($1.5 million): to support equitable development in Detroit’s Historic North End by transforming the 10-block East Grand Boulevard streetscape, the gateway into the North End community, into a cohesive, attractive and pedestrian-friendly corridor. Vanguard will gather community input at every stage of the process as they work to redesign and beautify the street, including adding wayfinding and other signage.
University of Michigan Taubman College ($405,000): to design and adaptively reuse an existing building on the property as a community-centered design library and meeting space, which will exist as part of the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in Detroit’s North End. In partnership with Oakland Avenue Urban Farm (OAUF), the U-M Taubman College will use Knight support to transform a vacant residence into a community library and meeting space — one that’s run entirely with community support and input. Funds will also provide ongoing support for programming and staffing.

“We believe that you can’t invest in a place without investing in the people who live there,” said Nate Wallace, Knight’s Detroit program director. “These projects are helping the North End community shape its own future, build resiliency and feel more connected to the area, and we’re proud to help support them.”

Knight’s investment in the East Grand Boulevard project comes on the heels of its designation as a National Historic Main Street. Vanguard Community Development Corporation (CDC) will use Knight support to launch a three-year project to physically transform East Grant Boulevard, the gateway into the North End community.

“East Grand Boulevard is a historic promenade, and gateway into the North End,” said Pamela Martin Turner, Vanguard CDC president and CEO. “This project will transform East Grand into a beautiful, walkable, street that can be enjoyed by the entire community.”

The design of the community library project will be led by U-M Taubman College, which is working with Detroit-based architecture and urban design studio Akoaki to help OAUF reimagine and realize six acres of the North End. The facility will offer a meeting place for community organizations and Taubman College students and faculty to work together on design, planning, and development projects.

“Our hope is that this project offers a valuable resource to the North End and continues to build on all of the positive things happening in this community,” said Anya Sirota, associate dean at U-M’s Taubman College and co-principal of Akoaki. “This facility’s place as a piece of permanent infrastructure will provide the community and the university the opportunity to learn from one another for years to come and help realize the broader vision of a civic commons in the area.”

Knight’s commitment to the North End aims to support projects that reflect the community it serves by elevating projects that represent and serve Detroit’s majority Black population.

“The North End is at the dawn of a new, important era,” said Jerry Ann Hebron, a long-time North End resident, who is Oakland Avenue Urban Farm’s director. “As we build a place that more North End residents are involved with and proud of, and as more community needs are served, we know the North End will thrive.”

Knight’s investments are part of its mission to foster equitable, community-driven change that helps build access to local amenities, something that is needed and wanted by residents and helps attach them to their community. In fact, Knight’s 2019 Community Ties study shows why it’s important to invest in local amenities to help residents form stronger connections to their communities.

These projects are led by the North End community, dependent on engagement from and solutions by North End residents, and will help Knight continue to foster a strong relationship with the residents of the area.

For more on Knight’s work in Detroit, visit kf.org/detroit.

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About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Contact: Roshni Neslage, Communications Officer, Knight Foundation, 305.908.2623, [email protected]

Photo (top): A scale model of proposed plans for the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm, courtesy of Akoaki.

To support the use of social media influencers and digital engagement experimentation in San Jose’s covid vaccine campaign outreach efforts to increase vaccination rates of Latino, African American, and Vietnamese residents.

To transform a series of vacant lots and buildings in Kensington, owned by Esperanza Health Center, into activated public spaces through a community-centered design and planning process.