Latest news with #KnightFoundation
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- General
- Miami Herald
Miami's Freedom Tower just got a $5 million gift from the Knight Foundation
The Knight Foundation has pledged $5 million to support the restoration and reopening of Miami's iconic Freedom Tower, Miami Dade College announced this week. The donation comes ahead of the tower's 100th anniversary and a planned public reopening in September. The funds will support new cultural programming, including a major exhibition and gallery, as well as ongoing preservation work at the downtown landmark, which has been closed since 2022. The Knight Foundation gift is the largest private contribution so far to the Freedom Tower Centennial Campaign, which aims to raise money to revitalize the nearly century-old building and reaffirm its role as a center for arts, culture and history in Miami. 'This gift is a testament to the belief that Miami's history deserves to be preserved, celebrated, and shared,' said MDC President Madeline Pumariega. 'Thanks to Knight Foundation's support, the Freedom Tower will continue to serve as a beacon of civic memory, cultural expression and community pride for the next 100 years.' The $5 million donation will fund the creation of the Knight Skylight Gallery and a new signature exhibition, 'Refuge and Reflection,' set to open this fall. The exhibit will explore the building's multifaceted history — from its early days as a journalism hub to its later role processing Cuban refugees in the 1960s and 1970s. 'For so many families, including my own, this landmark has long been a symbol of hope — a place where dreams of freedom and opportunity took root, said Francesca de Quesada Covey, the Knight Foundation's vice president of community impact. 'It holds the stories of our community's history, identity and resilience. With this gift, we're helping ensure those stories continue to be shared in ways that inspire and unite future generations.' Located on Biscayne Boulevard, the Freedom Tower has long stood as a symbol of Miami's immigrant roots. In 2008, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The 289‑foot tower, often called the 'Ellis Island of the South,' was completed in 1925 as the headquarters of The Miami News, serving as a landmark of Miami's early 20th‑century growth. It later became the Cuban Refugee Assistance Center from 1962 to 1974, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles found welcome, medical aid and new beginnings. MDC closed the tower in 2022 to begin a two-year, $25 million restoration. The project includes much-needed structural and façade repairs, but doesn't alter the building's Mediterranean-style exterior. The Knight Foundation's support comes alongside public investment. Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis included $25 million for the project in his state budget proposal. The college has also received a $500,000 state cultural grant and has formed a centennial advisory committee co-chaired by Gloria and Emilio Estefan. With construction underway, the college says it is on track to reopen the Freedom Tower in time for its centennial. In addition to the new exhibition, the renovated space will feature reimagined versions of the Cuban Legacy Gallery and the Kislak Center, housing artifacts, manuscripts and art celebrating Miami's diverse heritage. 'This gift is a testament to the belief that Miami's history deserves to be preserved, celebrated, and shared,' Pumariega said.
Boston Globe
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump's book bans hurt the chances for reparations
'We are in a moment of anti-Blackness on steroids, and we refuse to be silent,' Pressley said earlier this month during a press conference at the US Capitol. 'We will not back down in our pursuit of racial justice,' she added. 'The antidote to anti-Blackness is to be pro-Black, and we will do it unapologetically. The United States government owes us a debt, and we need reparations now.' A large majority of Black Americans agree with Pressley. Nearly 3 in 4 Black adults support reparations, according to a 2024 Advertisement But the percentage of Americans of other races and ethnicities who back the idea is low. Less than half of Hispanic (47 percent) and Asian American (45 percent) respondents are in favor of reparations. And only about a third (34 percent) of white adults surveyed back the idea. Only 36 percent of Americans overall back the idea, according to The reasons for this vary. Some of it may be rooted in prejudice and bias. After all, Japanese Americans received Advertisement But some of the opposition to reparations is rooted in ignorance. As communities prepare to commemorate the ending of slavery later this month on Juneteenth, the majority of Americans finish high school knowing very little about just how atrocious slavery was. Only 8 percent of high school seniors were able to identify slavery as the central cause of the Civil War, according to a 2018 Southern Poverty Law Center And in 2017, There are long-term consequences for this knowledge gap. Just 1 in 4 adults (24 percent) strongly agree that the legacies of slavery affect the position of Black people in American society today, according to the Princeton survey. And America's ignorance about slavery is likely to become more widespread given that support for book bans has reached the federal level. In an executive order aimed at preventing students from reading books that introduce ideas about privilege and oppression and their relationship to race, President Trump accused schools that teach students books like Advertisement 'Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination,' he It's understandable why Trump, who made white grievance a foundational part of his presidential campaign, believes his effort to silence authors is popular. His return to the White House is largely viewed as confirmation of many Americans' rightward shift — even on matters of race — since the summer of 2020, when people filled the streets across the country to protest anti-Black racism after the police killing of George Floyd. Most Americans But Trump is misguided. Americans may not be in favor of what they consider preferential treatment based on race. But they are not fans of banning books — including those that aim to make a case for the need for that preferential treatment. Two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools, according to a 2024 Knight Foundation While former vice president Kamala Harris was unsuccessful in her attempt to keep Trump from returning to the White House, she seemed much more in line with where most Americans are when it comes to learning about this country's history. Advertisement 'We just need to speak truth about history. In spite of the fact that some people try and erase history and try and teach our children otherwise,' Harris 'We need to speak truth about it in a way that is about driving solutions,' added Harris, who as a senator cosponsored the bill that Pressley recently reintroduced. In a country where
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Strengthening Civic Health: How CivicLex Is Revitalizing Local Democracy
The founder of CivicLex in Lexington, Kentucky, discusses how his work is redefining what's possible in community and civic life – showing that in an era of national uncertainty, the most meaningful democratic renewal can begin locally. Ashoka: Richard, let's start at the beginning – what made you want to create CivicLex? Richard Young Richard Young: Through my previous work, I'd spent a lot of time around local government, and I kept seeing this lack of meaningful public engagement – only a small group of people were showing up to meetings. I'd watch these major policy decisions move through with hardly any public input. But then, like clockwork, right before any policy would pass, people would suddenly appear opposing it: "Why wasn't I told about this earlier? This feels like it's being done to me instead of with me." The thing is, these policies take a year or two to develop before they ever get to council for a vote. I realized that a couple of well-organized people could actually make a real impact on local decisions. This was around 2016, when national politics felt so divisive, and I wanted to build something that could make people feel good about contributing to our community's civic life again. I ended up getting a small $5,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to do work around civic information in our public transportation system, and that helped seed the idea for CivicLex. Ashoka: How does your team approach civic engagement differently? Young: We focus on three core things: civic knowledge, social cohesion, and building responsive institutions. First, people need to actually understand how civic life works. It's not something we're taught in school, and with local news shrinking, there's just less access to information about local decision-making. So our team teaches thousands of students how local government actually works. We also run adult workshops on civic processes, and we operate as a local newsroom covering city hall. Second, relationships are crucial, so we focus on social cohesion – how do we all build relationships with people who are different from us, and across different levels of civic power? Everyone should be able to talk to civic leaders and share their perspectives. We foster these relationships through events and by improving public spaces where people naturally meet. And third, our civic institutions need processes that actually welcome people into decision-making. If people show up wanting to participate and the process is terrible, they're not coming back. So we work with institutions to make participation meaningful for the public and helpful for government, too. Ashoka: How do you work with local government in the mutually beneficial way you describe? Young: For starters, we don't advocate for policy outcomes like affordable housing or minimum wage. Instead, we advocate for changes in process, which is a distinction the government recognizes. If we supported specific policies, our relationship would fundamentally change. We also approach our work with humility. People in government have decades of experience and really rich ideas about public engagement. If you come in saying, "You all aren't good at public engagement," you're discounting people who've put their lives into public service. So we build relationships and collaborate at the speed of trust. We also demonstrate a value proposition: good public engagement can actually convert opponents to supporters. Nothing helps in local government like having someone show up to say "yes," because almost always people show up to say "no." Ashoka: Can you share an example of success in changing government processes? Young: Sure. During Covid, when we were meeting virtually, our city suspended public comment because white supremacists were Zoom-bombing meetings. We reached out to a council member and said, "This is bad, and we get why you suspended it, but the process was broken to begin with. Could this be a starting point for actually fixing this?" So we surveyed about 1,000 residents and 85 top city staff about the legislative process, and when we asked where people should provide input, a significant majority of both the public and officials said "as early as possible." This revealed an unknown consensus. We then made 15 recommendations to change meeting structures and participation methods. The city adopted 13 of those 15, including creating two new types of pre-legislative council meetings to get public input before legislation even enters the stream. Ashoka: Civic engagement can be difficult to get excited about after a long day at work. How do you flip the script and make it something people want to do? Young: We've all experienced how learning about civic engagement and government processes can be boring, right? Convincing people to participate can be like convincing someone to eat spinach. If we want more participation from all groups, we've got to make it something people actually want to do. Following the pandemic, there's this real hunger for community and we try to build on that. In our educational events, like workshops on the city budget, we include games like "The Price is Right" where people guess dollar amounts about city government. We also host purely social events. We've invited people to paint pumpkins with elected officials, build birdhouses, and attend pancake breakfasts. These spaces build relationships because you're not trying to convince anyone of anything – you're just having fun together. All the decisions being made by local government are serious – they can literally add or subtract years from people's lives. But if you talk about it that way, it sounds like taking medicine. People don't want lectures, they want fun. Ashoka: CivicLex is a powerful place-based model for civic engagement. How do you think about impact and scale? Young: We're missing crucial civic infrastructure in our country, with too many organizations going broad rather than deep. The Elks Clubs, Rotary Clubs, local press – these were important because they were contextualized to place, making them feel authentic and rooted. Now, everything's watered down, trying to appeal nationally. The natural inclination would be to make this a national organization with "CivicLexes" everywhere, but that's like taking two tablespoons of peanut butter and spreading it over a whole loaf instead of one slice. We see another way to grow, and we've had over 100 communities reach out about building similar organizations. Where there's demand, we want to share our lessons, show how these three impacts work together, and help communities build something that actually works for them. Ashoka: What's next for CivicLex? Young: We're thinking about our role in this tense political moment and especially want to amp up our work on relationship building and social cohesion. We have big projects coming up focused on potential changes to our city government structure, and we're planning to expand to include our public school system. The big thing I'm focused on is how this becomes like the library – an institution that feels permanent, that people will access for decades to come to help them feel a sense of agency over their lives. And now that we feel secure in who we are, we're thinking about how we can help other communities build something similar but tailored to their needs. Richard Young is an Ashoka Fellow. This interview was condensed for length and clarity by Ashoka.
Miami Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Miami's Knight Foundation announces new leaders in community, AI, research
A major Miami-based philanthropic, educational and civic institution has announced changes in its leadership. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which funds journalism, arts and culture, and research in media and democracy, appointed three new vice presidents. 'As we navigate a rapidly evolving world, these strategic leadership changes ensure we're not just keeping pace—but leading the way,' Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, said in a statement. 'The appointments underscore our commitment to adapting with purpose and ensuring our work continues to strengthen democracy and empower the communities we serve.' Here's what to know: Community: Francesca de Quesada Covey, the new vice president for community impact, will manage a grant portfolio of over $250 million across the 26 cities where the Knight brothers once owned and ran newspapers. De Quesada Covey previously was chief innovation and economic development officer for Miami-Dade County. Artificial intelligence: Kelly Jin, the new vice president for AI and Insights as well as chief of staff, will oversee the assessment of grant-making to guide future investments and build a strategy for integrating AI tools across the Knight Foundation. Jin joined the Knight Foundation in 2021 as vice president for communities and national initiatives. Information and research: John Sands, the new vice president for Knight's new information and society program, will oversee efforts to understand how information and technology are shaping society as well as policy research to advance free expression and access to information. Sands joined the Knight Foundation in 2019 and most recently was senior director of media and democracy.
Time Magazine
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time Magazine
Maribel Pérez Wadsworth
Over two decades of decline, the U.S. newspaper industry has suffered job losses on par, percentage-wise with manufacturers of cassette tapes and DVDs. Local newsrooms are vanishing at a rate of more than two a week, leaving an estimated 55 million Americans in news deserts with limited access to essential information. The Knight Foundation, with a strong history of supporting journalism, is out to reverse that trend. Leading the charge is Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, who became the first female president and CEO in Knight's almost 75-year history in January 2024. Under her direction, the foundation last year doubled its pledge to Press Forward, a national coalition to bolster local news, from $150 million to $300 million over five years. In July, the foundation gave a timely $6.9 million infusion to strengthen nonpartisan election coverage in pivotal states—reflecting Wadsworth's belief that philanthropy must 'move at the speed of news.' And this February, Knight added $25 million to an initial grant of $20 million, to support the American Journalism Project, an initiative to support nonprofit local news. Many of the challenges we face come down to a 'lack of connection and engagement' with our fellow citizens, Wadsworth says. 'Local journalism in particular is a grounding element. It is an anchor that helps communities to be strong and connected.'
