Communities – Page 62 – Knight Foundation

Program Area: Communities

Macon, Ga. – June 27, 2017 – Navicent Health today announced $5 million in support for its new Children’s Hospital facility from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Beverly Knight Olson, a Macon philanthropist and loyal supporter and volunteer at Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health for more than 25 years. Olson is a daughter of Knight-Ridder newspapers’ founder James Knight. The hospital’s new facility will be named the Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health to honor her contributions.

“When you consider someone who in Macon epitomizes selflessness and compassion, the first name that comes to mind is Beverly Knight Olson,” said Ellen Terrell, chief development officer of Navicent Health Foundation. “We could not think of a more fitting person after whom to name our Children’s Hospital. A gift of this magnitude from Beverly Knight Olson and Knight Foundation will propel this campaign to the next level, and we know others will follow their lead to help make this new Children’s Hospital a reality for families in central and south Georgia.”

“When we think of the children who trust us with their care and the standard we charge ourselves to live up to, there is no higher bar we could set for ourselves. Beverly is deeply involved in the Macon community, and has been a faithful and active supporter of Children’s Hospital for many years,” said Dr. Ninfa M. Saunders, president and CEO of Navicent Health. “She was instrumental in establishing our Safe Kids Bibb County program, as well as our annual Golf Classic fundraiser. We are thrilled to name our new facility in her honor, not only for her generous financial support, but also for her many years of hands-on care for our children and their families.”

Olson is committing $1 million and Knight Foundation is investing $4 million in the new hospital.

Navicent Health is currently Macon-Bibb’s largest employer. With more than 45,000 visits projected annually, the state-of-the-art institution will attract new talent to Macon and serve as an important anchor in the community. It will contribute to downtown Macon’s transformation, adding to Knight’s previous investments in the city.

“Jack and Jim Knight were deeply committed to the success of the communities where they built their business and lived their lives. The Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, named for Jim’s daughter, promises to bring new opportunities and talent to Macon, helping to build a stronger future for the city and the region,” said Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen.

In June 2016, amid a climate that has seen a number of hospital closures and limited hospital expansion, Navicent Health announced its intent to construct a new Children’s Hospital facility, with plans to begin serving the region’s patients in 2019.

Since 1987, the nonprofit Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health has been committed to enhancing the lives of children through excellence in patient care, research and education. The only dedicated pediatric facility in central Georgia, and one of the most comprehensive in the state, it provides care in general pediatrics, pediatric critical care, neonatal intensive care and outpatient services. The hospital also serves as the primary teaching site for the Department of Pediatrics at the Mercer University School of Medicine.

Due to a growing demand for additional service options, Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health has outgrown its current facility, constructed in 1962 and designed for adult healthcare. Navicent Health’s vision is to construct a new facility in order to expand services in a hospital designed to meet the specific needs of children with illness or injury.

The new hospital, to be built on the current site at 888 Pine St. in downtown Macon, will be a larger facility with the latest equipment and technologies.

“Children are not small adults. Their health needs are different and are constantly changing,” said Dr. Josh Glenn, the hospital’s director of Pediatric Surgery. “With a proven track record of providing excellent care, we are faced with the need to replace the current facility. We are committed to comprehensive, excellent care delivered by highly trained, board-certified pediatric physicians and clinical staff. We look forward to providing care in a new, world-class facility.”

With gratitude to Olson and her generous support, Navicent Health continues to seek philanthropic support in order to make its goal a reality.

“Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health has always relied on philanthropic support, and we are grateful to our donors for their commitment to Georgia’s most fragile children. Each gift made to the Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital campaign will be an investment not only in the children of today, but for the generations to come. Whether it is a premature infant born at less than one pound or a teenager recovering from an automobile accident, donors make a significant difference in the lives of our precious children. My family and I have been pleased to support this wonderful organization for many years, and we invite our community to become a part of the growing legacy for children who have and will continue to depend on the specialized care provided by the Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health,” said Olson.

The hospital adds to Knight Foundation’s previous investments in Macon. Since Knight made a $2 million investment to establish the College Hill Alliance in 2009, public and private sources have invested an additional $25 million in residential and commercial development in the area, a 2012 independent evaluation commissioned by the foundation found. Continued revitalization of the Beall’s Hill neighborhood and Historic Macon, improvements to Tattnall Square Park, the development of Mercer Village and Mercer’s Center for Collaborative Journalism are among the most visible outcomes of the initiative. These efforts have resulted in more than $97 million in private and public investment since 2009.

The construction of the new Children’s Hospital is one of a number of initiatives Navicent Health plans to undertake within the next five years in order to dramatically improve access to high-quality, reasonably-priced care within the region.

About Navicent Health

Navicent Health was incorporated on November 17, 1994, as a nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is to coordinate the Medical Center, Navicent Health and other affiliated entities in their mission of providing a comprehensive continuum of high quality, reasonably priced healthcare services to the region. Navicent Health has 830 beds for medical, surgical, rehabilitation and hospice purposes. The health system includes The Medical Center, Navicent Health, a nationally recognized tertiary teaching hospital; Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health, the region’s only dedicated pediatric hospital; Medical Center of Peach County, Navicent Health, a rural critical access hospital; Rehabilitation Hospital, Navicent Health, the region’s oldest and most experienced rehabilitation provider; Pine Pointe, Navicent Health, which provides palliative and hospice care in homes and in its facility; Carlyle Place, Navicent Health, the area’s first continuing care retirement community;  Navicent Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Navicent Health; as well as diagnostic and home care services. For more information, please visit www.navicenthealth.org.

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 knightfoundation.org.

CONTACTS:

Megan Allen, Publications Coordinator, Navicent Health, 478-550-4380,  [email protected]

Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, Knight Foundation, 305-908-2646, [email protected]

To support ten exemplary black men as BMe Community Geniuses and elevate them to demonstrate the value of diverse talent and inclusive civic engagement for a more prosperous Akron.

To support the citizenship application process and nonpartisan education of lawful permanent residents in Knight communities to increase the number of those residents applying for citizenship.

To engage Macon audiences by expanding interpretative exhibits at the historic Capricorn Recording Studios that will be a key component of Mercer Music at Capricorn, a two million dollar restoration initiative.

Philadelphia—June 23, 2017—The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation announced their plan to transform Philadelphia’s Municipal Pier 9 into the Cherry Street Pier, creating a multi-functional public community space for creative collaboration and civic engagement. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is investing $683,000 in the project to test a model for repurposing civic spaces to help cities increase economic opportunity and promote inclusion.

The approximately $4 million project will build on Delaware River Waterfront Corporation’s successful track-record of activating underutilized public spaces. It aims to create a hub for skill-building and innovation, while connecting Philadelphia’s growing community of entrepreneurs, makers and artists. To this end, it will open opportunities for dialogue, learning, collaboration and engagement centered on community issues and opportunities.

Cherry Street Pier will feature four zones of activity: The Hub, a food and beverage venue at the entrance to the pier; The Garage, a collaborative working space featuring shared offices and studios built out of repurposed shipping containers; The Platform, an open programmable space for pop-up retail markets, art installations and public events; and The Garden, an open-air park and café with views of the Delaware River.

“To remain relevant, civic assets and public spaces need to be more than gathering spaces; they must create value and provide amenities that engage the community and advance economic opportunity. We hope the pier will help meet these goals, serving as a model for transforming public spaces to support up-and-coming entrepreneurs, makers and artists, while driving excitement and connection amongst diverse residents,” said Patrick Morgan, Knight Foundation program director for Philadelphia.

Municipal Pier 9, the 93-year old warehouse owned by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation features over 55,000 square feet of open space that has been vacant for decades. This unique, post-industrial site is conveniently located at Columbus Boulevard next to Race Street Pier, making it easily accessible to visitors who are taking public transportation, walking, biking or traveling by car. 

The intention for the space, as articulated in the corporation’s Master Plan for Central Delaware, is for it to become a highly visible cultural and commercial anchor for the area. Rather than undertaking a complete renovation, Delaware River Waterfront Corporation has opted for a phased approach which will return the space to active use more quickly and build momentum for further investment as the project grows. The physical changes to the Pier structure and building shed were carefully chosen to be both economical and preserve its historical character.

“We’re thrilled to reintroduce this historic pier to active, public use, and to provide a unique resource for our city’s growing creative community,” said Joe Forkin, in-coming President of DRWC. “Cherry Street Pier is the latest example of the vision of the Master Plan coming to fruition, and will contribute to the ongoing resurgence of the Delaware River Waterfront.”

Support for the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation forms part of Knight Foundations efforts to leverage public spaces and civic assets, such as parks, recreation centers, libraries and more, to promote inclusion and foster vibrant, connected communities. Knight has made several investments in this area including the national $40 million Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative, initially piloted in Philadelphia.

For more information on this exciting new project and the Delaware River Waterfront please visit www.delawareriverwaterfront.com.


About the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation

DRWC is a 501(c)(3) created in January 2009, exclusively for the benefit of the City of Philadelphia and its citizens. The fundamental purpose of DRWC is to design, develop, program and maintain public amenities such as permanent and seasonal parks, trails, and streetscape improvements to transform the waterfront into a vibrant destination for recreational, cultural, and commercial activities for the residents and visitors of Philadelphia as is consistent with the goals of the Master Plan for Central Delaware. Daily programming throughout the entire year is changing the way Philadelphians see and converse about the waterfront, and is helping to create spaces and communities that connect residents and visitors to the waterfront.    

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.

CONTACTS: 

Jodie Milkman, Vice President for Communications, Delaware River Waterfront Corporation 

(o) 215 629-3216, (c) 267-228-2004, [email protected]

Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, Knight Foundation

305-908-2646, [email protected]

To increase nonpartisan civic engagement in Milledgeville by piloting a mobile survey booth stocked with questions around nonpartisan local issues, oddball initiatives, and creative thinking.

To build leadership capacity and promote community engagement among city transportation officials in Knight communities with support for the NACTO Designing Cities annual conference and Leadership NACTO, a new fellowship experience.

To pilot Spirit Plaza as a public venue for civic engagement and public discourse in Detroit.

To establish the Silver Knight Award Endowment Fund in support of the Silver Knight Awards, an initiative created by John S. Knight. The Silver Knight program honors academic achievement and community engagement of outstanding high school seniors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. 

Coming up with a big idea to improve your city is one thing. Digging into the gnarly details of launching and scaling that project it is quite a different story.

That’s why Knight Foundation brought together the winners from all three years of the Knight Cities Challenge last week, to network, learn and exchange ideas for making their cities more successful.

The week began with a celebration of the latest winning projects at Miami’s Lyric Theater. Then, over the next few days, they dug into lessons from past winners – talking about how Macon, Georgia, for example, was able to launch a pilot project to increase its bike lanes tenfold, while Philadelphia made its once vacant pools the summer hot spot. And how in Boulder, Colorado the city was able to solve two challenges in one shot – by having homeless people who needed workforce training learn to turn diseased tree branches into works of art. (These benches and butterflies are beautiful, and they quickly sell out.)

Meanwhile, experts in the field of civic innovation shared their advice with the crowd on the best ways to create even more vibrant cities. Here are some of the insights they shared:

You’re human. If you want your project to succeed, write and talk like one: 

It may be one of George Orwell’s least celebrated works, but his “Politics and the English Language” has six rules to live by for anyone trying to communicate and persuade.

Designers and architects ignore them routinely, talking in language only each other understand, Leslie Koch, former president of the Trust for Governor’s Island, told the group. Doing so further places them in “professional ghettoes,” using language that is only meaningful to a select few and which no one else can permeate, said Koch, who led the island’s redevelopment into a shared public space. Instead, she urged the crowd to read Orwell’s six rules, and communicate in simple language to get more people involved in their work.

If you work in government, start with yes: 

While at the trust, Koch spent a lot of time ingrained in the culture of government workers. One of the challenges in local government, she said, is that there is no reward for risk. Government employees, are much better off saying “we’ll take that under consideration,” than jumping feet first into a groundbreaking project, she said. If you’re someone on the outside trying to get things done, respect that and try to work through it. If you’re on the inside? Try saying “yes.”

Radical change is still possible: 

If you have a good idea, one that will result in deep and equitable impact for your community, don’t underestimate its ability to succeed, said Anuj Gupta, a former Knight Cities Challenge winner who now heads Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market. He shared a personal story. Previously, he led a local community development corporation, which owned a blighted brownfield in Northwest Philadelphia. The easy thing to do would have been to sell the property to the highest bidder, Gupta said. But it happened to be located next to a charter school serving a low-income community. The school’s curriculum focused on environmental issues and was looking for room to expand. Gupta and his organization saw an opportunity to use their property to benefit the community. After three years of obstacles – a freeze on charter school construction among them – the school broke ground in 2013 and the facility opened this year.

“The more that I hear no, and the more that I hear people say it can’t happen, it tells me I’m on the right track. Radical change is still possible. It is critical and you are about to begin a journey to change the world,” Gupta said.

Avoid the stars, and elevate the team: 

Over the past few years, PlaceLab in Chicago has convened a group of fellows to explore the field of ethical redevelopment, which reimagines public space design and puts equity at the forefront, and examine nine principles that guide it. The term “development” is a loaded one for people working in community, said Knight Cities Challenge winner and speaker James Feagin: It “becomes a dirty word. It’s something that happens to you and it means gentrification. So how do we start to expand that definition and engage people at different points in that conversation?” he said, stressing the importance of including a multitude of voices in reshaping neighborhoods.

Tayyib Smith, another challenge winner, who runs an accelerator in Philadelphia built on the principles of hip hop, said it’s important for people working in community to avoid perpetuating the “star system.” Thought leaders like Theaster Gates, who leads the PlaceLab program, have a star quality that attracts people. He does fantastic work, Smith said, but behind him and others like him is a team of people who are often ignored, Smith said, a practice that can negatively impact a project. “People fall in love with the idea of leadership rather than the leadership,” Smith said. If you instead lift the idea of the network, and collaborate, more people can become engaged and contribute.”

Better Block’s Monica Diodati and a Macon Connects volunteer paint a turning box along the 5+ mile pop-up bike network. Photo courtesy of 8 80 Cities.

If you build it, they will come  – on bike: 

In Macon, the cost of median rent and a car are about the same, and people choose between home and car ownership routinely, said Josh Roberts, of Macon Connects. The group, meanwhile, noticed that residents were eager to bike along the riverfront, but didn’t do the same in downtown because of a lack of trails. So the project team did an experiment: they staged pop-up bike lanes – eight miles of them – over a short period, increasing the rate of biking 2,000 percent. Some 70 percent of people wanted the installations to be permanent, and now the city is embarking on three miles of trails to connect neighborhoods in downtown, Rogers said.

The effort echoes what the organization Better Block, which helped develop Macon’s pop-up bike lanes, said at the conference: Successful pop-up projects make people hungry for permanent change.

Data is awesome. Shared experience is better: 

Gehl, which dedicates its work to creating people-centered cities, recently worked with the city of Denver to get more people to spend more time downtown. The city launched Meet in the Street, a summer program that included pop-up programming and public spaces. To get downtown stakeholders to buy into the program, they held “walkshops” instead of workshops, getting everyone together to walk the streets and experience what was being planned.

 “It was about, how do we have a shared experience to move it forward?” said Gehl’s Jeff Risom.

And that also sums up what the the Knight Cities summit was about: bringing people together, to move their communities forward.

Magic Leap still hasn’t released a product. But the dream world it’s creating keeps getting richer and richer.

Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz spoke this week at the eMerge Americas conference on Miami Beach, joining Jean-Pierre Bardet, dean of University of Miami’s College of Engineering, on a panel moderated by Knight Foundation’s Miami program director, Matt Haggman.

Virtual reality and augmented reality, he suggested, are just gateway technologies to the experience the secretive South Florida company is building.

“We are doing a new class of computing. You can think of it in terms of spatial and ambient, it is contextually aware and wire-free, you’re not holding up a phone looking through a video display,” he explained. “You just live in this big space with all kinds of people and you are contextually aware. So we’re trying to build a computer that acts like people.”

Abovitz offered few details about the actual device, its launching date, and its price. He would only go as far as saying that yes, “2017 will be a big year for Magic Leap,” reaffirming a posting in his blog, and that “Launch is not far away.”

The mystery surrounding Magic Leap has raised questions in the tech world, but fellow panelist Bardet, who visited the company and tested its device, had no doubts.

“I knew that it was a disruptive technology but when I actually experienced it, it really validated the story,” the dean said. “What is disruptive is how the device interacts with you. That’s a frontier in science and engineering.”

Writer Kevin Kelly, who tested the device for a Wired story, explained that it projects images onto the retina, which allows the user to interact with the virtual and physical reality simultaneously. It’s what Abovitz called “symbiont technology,” making the human part of the technology.

As for the impact of these technologies, Abovitz noted that ethics and morality will play a large role in the next decade. “This is one of those times where you can move in a dangerous path or you can do great things,” he said. “We will be replaced by AI or will be amplified by it and will be much more empowered. We are completely ‘people first’ everything. What we are building is about how we can amplify you as an individual, not replace you.”

The wait for a product has not deterred venture investors. The Plantation-based company has raised nearly 1.4 billion dollars from Google, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Warner Bros., and venture firms, and there has been speculation in tech media that the next investment round might value Magic Leap at $6 billion to $8 billion.

That would make Magic Leap by far the best funded startup in South Florida’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, an ecosystem that Knight Foundation has strengthened over the past five years by supporting meetups, coworking spaces and coding programs, connecting experienced and novice investors, bringing in the startup mentorship network Endeavor, and more.

This is not Abovitz’s first South Florida-based success story. In 2004 he was one of the founders of Mako Surgical, a pioneer in robotic-arm assisted surgery. Nine years later, the company was acquired by Stryker for $1.65 billion. Abovitz, a University of Miami grad, said that without the “noise that you find sometimes in the West Coast and the groupthink, you have this ability to think clearly” in South Florida.

He said that Magic Leap employs “nearly” a thousand people, including 800 in South Florida, and has been bringing people from all over the world. “So they are setting roots here in South Florida; at some point, they’ll spin out their own startups.”

“When I started Mako I felt alone in a raft by myself, today I don’t feel that at all,” he said. “There’s definitely movement and energy and it’s cool and open-ended. But I do hope that universities start turning out top notch engineers and innovators who wants to stay here. A lot of the really good ones go to Boston, go to Europe, to San Francisco. They don’t think they can actually do it here, and hopefully they’ll realize that they have a better shot to stand out here.”

Fernando González is a Miami-based arts and culture writer. He can be reached via email at [email protected].

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