To expand StoryCorps’ One Small Step, an initiative that brings community together with different political views in recorded conversations, to three Knight Cities.
Program Area: Communities
To support United Way of Central Carolinas (UWCC) in building the capacity of resident-led organizations to deliver programming and services in the West Side of Charlotte.
To use commercial parking management and information technologies to provide information and tools about parking management strategies in San Jose in a publicly accessible, transparent manner so that people can work to shape nonpartisan policy and planning to build a more vibrant city.
To support Macon-Bibb Bicentennial Celebration in 2023.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Throughout 2021, Miami1 made headlines for cryptocurrency, blockchain and the efforts of Mayor Francis Suarez to attract Silicon Valley to Miami. To some, it may have appeared that the city was an overnight success. However, for at least ten years, many had been setting the table so that as this moment arrived, and Miami was ready. Knight Foundation, a longtime investor in Miami’s tech entrepreneurship ecosystem, commissioned the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) to investigate how Miami’s tech entrepreneurship community has evolved over the past decade, the role the foundation’s grantees played in that evolution and what investment is needed for future success.
Over the past decade, Miami has matured into a unique tech entrepreneurship ecosystem on a growth trajectory. South Florida is a destination for those seeking to build and create (53% foreign-born2), and its quality of life is regularly cited as a key draw. As a city of makers, Miami is leveraging the strengths that residents and newcomers bring into a distinctive tech community. Most notably, we see that:
- Key benchmarks like venture capital, exits and software employment are on the rise. Miami has seen rapid increases in the number of local workers employed at software jobs, as well as consistent, positive growth in the amount of capital that is invested in local technology companies. Perhaps most importantly, the number of exits valued at over $100 million has also increased in recent years along with the number of privately held “unicorns.”3
- Attitudes about Miami’s potential have changed both locally and among outsiders. Local entrepreneurs and investors have a positive view of the sector’s past and its future. In addition, Miami is attracting founders and venture capitalists who are excited about the local momentum.
- Founders have support. A large number of organizations have launched in the region during the past decade to support founders. Where there was only a handful of these organizations in 2012, there is now a full network.
Miami’s distinctive approach to supporting the growth of local tech entrepreneurship, led in large part by Knight Foundation and its grantees, has contributed to the community’s evolution. Since 2012, Knight has funded more than 150 grants, program-related investments and endowments that total more than $60 million to building a tech entrepreneurship hub in Miami. The foundation is unique among philanthropies for making tech entrepreneurship an investing priority and for focusing its giving on organizations with a plausible path toward financial viability beyond grant funding.
We believe there are clear links between the work of Knight grantees and the local tech sector’s growth described in the previous section. Our interviews and analyses suggest that the greatest impact likely came from four areas:
- Changing the narrative. Grantees have been very active in working to reshape national and local perceptions of the tech sector to be better aligned with current realities.
- Increasing access to capital. Grantees who work in investor education, angel investing groups and the attraction of venture capital have helped activate the dramatic increases in the supply of local angel and venture capital seen in recent years.
- Fostering effective entrepreneurship support organizations. Several grantee organizations have supported some of the most successful local tech companies of the last decade, which have produced large numbers of local jobs and economic value.
- Improving local quality of life. When asked about Miami’s advantages as a tech hub, local entrepreneurs and investors were very likely to mention things like “quality of life,” “lifestyle” and “cultural activities” directly connected to the foundation’s longtime efforts to support local arts and culture.
It is possible to draw a number of initial conclusions from the work of the foundation and its grantees that could be relevant to foundations and leaders in communities outside Miami. Those interested in fostering tech entrepreneurship communities should recognize it takes a significant amount of time. Knight and its grantee partners have also seen firsthand the importance of continually engaging with and listening to the broader community to inform local strategies. Miami’s experience also suggests that just a few entrepreneur support organizations can have an outsized impact in terms of job creation and capital raised.
The continued success for Miami’s tech ecosystem will require enduring investment in a few key areas. The recent exits and acquisitions of entrepreneurial tech companies in the region will continue to be very important for demonstrating credibility and for building a self-sustaining ecosystem in which the wealth generated by founders is invested back into the ecosystem. There are three areas the authors of this report recommend for consideration as priorities for future local funding based on our analyses and project interviews with local entrepreneurs and technology investors.
- Continue fostering a more inclusive community by gender, race and local geography.
- Grow technical talent to meet community demand for careers in technology and address local technology company’s need for workers.
- Work to address broader threats to the local tech entrepreneurship community, such as the quality of local transportation infrastructure, the housing supply and the existential threats of climate change and sea-level rise.
Miami Dade College to expand emerging tech programs with $15M investment from Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, City of Miami and Downtown Development Authority
press release
February 23, 2022
May 25, 2022 — TechCongress, a nonpartisan initiative that places early and mid-career technologists as advisers to members of Congress, will expand tech expertise on Capitol Hill thanks to a $2.5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
How it works
Through its Congressional Innovation Fellowship, TechCongress pairs early and mid-career technologists with members of Congress. The fellows include data scientists, computer scientists and computer engineers, who serve as advisors on technology policy and congressional modernization efforts. The program places an equal number of fellows in Republican and Democratic offices, and has also placed fellows who identify as Independents.
Knight Foundation’s latest investment in TechCongress will allow the organization to:
- Upskill the tech capacity of Congress by bringing 60 technologists to Capitol Hill by 2026, expanding the Congressional Innovation Fellowship cohorts from 16 to 24 fellows annually, and converting one-third of the fellows into full-time Congressional staff
- Increase representation of underrepresented groups in tech
- Boost recruitment efforts to ensure political diversity on an issue critical to the future of U.S. democracy
Why it matters
When TechCongress launched In 2015, only seven out of the 3,500 legislative staff in Capitol Hill had any formal technology training. Pew Research from 2021, however, found that 95% of American adults were online.
“Understanding the mechanics of current, new and emerging tech is critical for governing in the 21st century,” said Lilian Coral, Knight’s director for national strategy and technology innovation. “By increasing technical expertise in Congress, TechCongress fellows help our elected officials better assess how technology impacts Americans’ lives. ”
Impact
Since 2016, TechCongress has sent 65 fellows to Congress. They’ve worked with members such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA.) The fellows have also served in Congressional Committees, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Senate Banking Committee.
The impact of TechCongress was evident during the pandemic lock down in 2020. Fellows supported the House Modernization Committee to facilitate the work-from-home transition for Congress. A pilot Congressional Digital Service effort was put in place quickly and made permanent by the House in January 2022. The House Digital Service aims to adopt digital technology and platforms to improve the ability of members of Congress to deliver for constituents.
Other examples of TechCongress’s impact include:
- Changing defense procurement rules to allow startups to better compete for contracts
- Helping draft the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee report on tech monopolies
- Advising the House Modernization Committee’s recommendations to make Congress more responsive and effective
- Helping pass the OPEN Government Data Act into law
- Raising the level of tech policy discussion in Congress, including around artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and tech procurement
What’s next for TechCongress?
“Our fellows are forward-thinkers that not only bring critical knowledge to urgent tech policy challenges, but also bring new and creative methods to problem solving by centering users at the heart of the policymaking process,” said Travis Moore, founder and executive director of TechCongress. “Fellows are ensuring that lawmakers are at the forefront of cybersecurity and privacy challenges, while also supporting Congress to leverage new and emerging tech to make government officials more responsive to the needs of their constituents.’
Applications for the 2023 Congressional Innovation Fellowship cohort will open on June 7 and run through Aug. 10. Prospective fellows can apply here.
###
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
We are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. Learn more at kf.org and follow @knightfdn on social media.
To support the growth of Tech Equity Miami, a collaborative of private and public partners advancing digital equity by building toward universal internet connectivity, expanded STEM education and greater access to careers in tech.
To support the expansion of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit that addresses educational inequities and barriers to high-earning careers, through the launch of its SEO Scholars and SEO Tech Developer programs in Miami.
To support the growth of Init, an organization of aspiring and early-career software engineers and developers from historically underrepresented communities that is focused on improving collegiate student success and career advancement through peer mentorship.
To reinvigorate underutilized recreation centers in Philadelphia neighborhoods to be hubs for social enterprise where local entrepreneurs launch small businesses and create public programs that engage the community in new ways.
To facilitate a nonpartisan convening of experts and leaders to create actionable knowledge on best practices or physical and digital infrastructure in cities, and how these can enable access and deployment of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Bill, and other federal funds & programs.