Support of the annual Reboot conference hosted by Lincoln Network, Inc.
Program Area: Communities
In San José, Knight seeks to create one of the nation’s most engaged cities. We seek to place people at the center of the city’s present and future. From walkable and bikeable neighborhoods to more user-friendly design of city services to building vibrant public spaces for all, Knight’s work aims to help San Joseans fall in love with and work in support of their city every day.
To advance these efforts, Knight is launching Speak Up San José, a yearlong initiative that invites all residents for conversation and action to advance our city’s future. Specifically, the foundation is committing $150,000 to fifteen community groups to host 28 events over the coming twelve months. From community dinners to street parties to salons, each event is conceived by local organizations, community groups and neighborhood know-it-alls to advance locally relevant issues. Most importantly, every event is free, open to the public and/or engages a diverse group of individuals, and built around a specific action point.
In bringing together San José’s diverse residents, Knight seeks to create more opportunities for San Joseans to feel a sense of attachment to place. In Knight’s 2010 Soul of the Community Report, only 27.1 percent of San Joseans described feeling “attached” to San José. Working together with our partners, we aim to provide residents more opportunity to connect with each other, experience new neighborhoods and support a more informed and engaged populace.
And, as Knight recognizes both our and our partner’s limitations on hosting a truly citywide conversation, we are pleased to offer $6,000 for up to twelve additional events hosted by the community. Should you be an individual or organization interested in gathering San Joseans in support of a big idea, hopeful action or neighborhood gathering, please fill out this form.
We look forward to gathering with you across this wonderful city in support of San José’s vibrant, engaged and people-obsessed future.
Future Proof: Conversations on the future of mobility in San José
(June 28, July 26, August 23, September 27, 2018 happy hour talks)
On Your Left: Bike Boogie
(August 4, 2018 street festival)
Supporting our City: Exploring the role of cultural institutions in San Jose’s environmental sustainability
(August 15, 2018 dinner)
(September 5, November 7, 2018 and January 31, March 6, 2019 forums)
(September 21 interactive installations and conversations)
(September 23 block party)
(September 25, 2018 PechaKucha/hands-on design event)
(September 26 shared meal and conversation)
The School of Arts and Culture at MHP (SOAC) in partnership with Somos Mayfair
Cafécito – Coffee, Community, and Conversation
(September 27, October 25 and November 29, 2018 coffee gatherings)
Down the Eaten Path: Inclusivity and empowerment through street eats
(October 11, 2018 dinner)
Pecha Kucha Night: Mobility San José 2040
(October 18, 2018 PechaKucha event)
(October 30 discussion and party)
Protecting the Veins of San Jose: Keeping our creeks free of trash by 2040
(December 13, 2018 panel discussion & luncheon)
How Do You Feel in San Jose?
(January exhibit)
(January 18, 2019 PechaKucha happy hour)
The Silicon Valley Education Foundation and the San Jose Public Library
(January 31, 2019 roundtable discussion)
CatalyzeSV
(February 7, 2019 interactive presentation)
(February 17, 2019 Day of Remembrance discussion and art event)
A New Civic Imagination for San José: A dinner and conversation with Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman
(February 27, 2019 dinner)
Perspective: Seeing and Understanding The Other Side
(March 6 and 20, April 3 and 17, 2019 talks)
KIVA
Community Gathering
(March 2019 street food style event and talk)
(April 8, 2019 street festival)
(April 13, May 11, June 29, 2019 dinners)
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
Can Art Change San José’s Local Water Consciousness?
(May 5, 2019 salon conversation)
The Gathering: People from various parts of the community and life stages, networking, informing and inspiring one another
(May 23, 2019 salon dinner)
Veggielution
Neighborhood Eats: Saturday suppers to discover and elevate the best food in East San José
(June 29, 2019 dinner)
Additionally, Knight will be offering monthly mini-grants of $500 to individuals and organizations for community conversation ideas. Apply here.
In San José, Knight seeks to place people at the center of the city’s future. From walkable and bikeable neighborhoods to more user-friendly design of city services to building vibrant public spaces for all, Knight aims to help San Joseans enjoy their city every day.
Knight’s Speak Up San José initiative invites all residents for conversation and action to advance our city’s future. Specifically, the foundation is committing $150,000 to community groups to host events over the course of the year. From community dinners to street parties, each event is conceived by local organizations, community groups and neighborhood know-it-alls to advance locally relevant issues. Most importantly, every event is free, open to the public and/or engages a diverse group of individuals, and built around a specific action point.
If you are an individual or organization interested in gathering community members in support of a big idea, action or neighborhood gathering, send us an email.
To learn more about this initiative and view past events, click here.
Upcoming events:
Image (top): Veggielution First Friday. Photo by Danny Harris on Twitter.
To support the DiverseForce On Boards Program to recognize and provide support for local leaders of color [FULL TEXT WITHIN NOTE, CHTR LIMITS]
To support a collaboration between Detroit Public Television and up to 10 libraries that would leverage the Great American Read and PBS Books to connect local media and literary content to foster greater information sharing and community engagement.
To produce and distribute Startup Guide Miami, a handbook that highlights the best of Miami’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including startups, founders and supporting stakeholders.
To support the 2018 Miami City of Tomorrow Challenge (COTC) challenge in partnership with Miami-Dade County and Ford Mobility.
To commission a series of neighborhood events and new musical works on the 50th anniversary of Dionne Warwick’s ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose?’
Philadelphia’s public spaces are experiencing a resurgence. From recently opened Lovett Library Park to excitement around the soon to be open Cherry Street Pier, new investments in these community centerpieces have created deeper connections between people and their city and invited a cross-section of residents to participate in building the kind of neighborhoods where they want to live.
At Knight Foundation, public spaces form an important part of our work in cities. Beyond the opportunity to meet neighbors, enjoy local arts and culture and take a jog or spend time with family, they help to strengthen civic engagement and the attachment people feel for their cities — both prerequistes for creating more informed and engaged communities. Recent research by the Center for Active Design reinforces this purpose, showing that public spaces can help to facilitate community connection, trust and involvement.
Philadelphia is paying attention to this opportunity. The city has committed $300 million to public spaces over seven years through the Rebuild Initiative, which aims to revitalize local parks, recreation centers, playgrounds and libraries. The effort expands upon the main goals of Reimagining the Civic Commons, a national initiative piloted in Philadelphia, that seeks to bring people together, by revitalizing and connecting public spaces and countering the economic and social fragmentation that are all too common.
Initially launched in 2014 by the Knight and the William Penn foundations, the initiative has helped local leaders transform five of the city’s neighborhood public spaces. Leaders take risks, scale new ideas and share lessons learned through a growing network of nonprofit, public and community partners. In this way, the approach leverages public-private investments while creating a unique role to help residents shape their city.
Last fall, Knight Foundation doubled down on its public space support in Philadelphia, following up on what we learned from Reimagining the Civic Commons. We announced $3.28 million in new funding to Fairmount Park Conservancy and partners to develop a citywide, civic engagement strategy to connect people to their neighborhoods and to each other. Since then, Knight-funded trainings and activities have helped jumpstart participation and energy around public spaces. This includes the first-ever citywide summit for hundreds of library and public space volunteers and neighborhood partners to come together to share new ideas and learn from each other.
In addition to these broader efforts, locally, we are seeing more community members exercise their civic muscles by volunteering at parks and libraries, creating new community groups to shape activities at rec centers, or getting involved in new art or tech programs in libraries and other public spaces.
Building on this momentum, we have committed an additional $800,000 to four of our Reimagining the Civic Commons partners: the John Bartram Association, Reading Terminal Market Corporation, Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation, and Mt. Airy USA.
As with our prior investments the funding captures three main themes:
- Using place as a platform: The John Bartram Association will test ideas around the role of public space that are bigger than the space itself, exploring ways to make historic Bartram’s Garden a destination for civic enagagement. It will work to create a space that puts residents at the center of planning efforts to redevelop their neighborhood and waterfront, and where those concerned about challenges, such as displacement and gentrification, can discuss and take action on these efforts.
- Building community through public space: Mt. Airy USA and the Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation will explore public space programming and activities aimed at bringing people together and creating long-lasting community connection. Both will introduce tools to measure impact and interactions and use results to scale and adjust in partnership with neighbors.
- Advancing creativity and collaboration: Reading Terminal Market will work with partners to reinvent the adjacent Filbert Street through unique public programming and amenities. It will focus on quick, flexible improvements that will invite people onto the street, connect them to a central public space in new ways, and appeal to a growing community of people interested in local food and creative endeavors.
Linking these investments is an on-the-ground effort to better understand how public spaces can help sustain a community’s engagement in issues important to them. Through this exploration, shared lessons and real-time experiments, we hope to invite all Philadelphians to build a stronger city.
Patrick Morgan is the program director for Philadelphia at Knight Foundation. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @PMorganPHL.
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To support the start-up of a public food market in downtown Akron’s to bolster the city’s revitalization efforts.
To build the capacity of San Jose’s community organizations working in support of parks and public spaces.