U of Miami determined to continue Knight Program

With a $1.1-million, three-year challenge grant in hand, the University of Miami School of Architecture has set its sights on continuing the Knight Program in Community Building for three more years and on gaining new donors to support it. Charles C. Bohl, director of the Knight Program, said the decision in March by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s National Venture Fund to provide $1.1 million over three years was “a big vote of confidence in the impact that the Community Building Program has had on the mid-career fellows, graduate students, and communities we have worked with over the first three years of the program.” “It’s also a recognition,” Bohl said, “that community building is an area of national importance that is not being taught as part of professional degree programs and that will continue to grow in the years ahead.” He told New Urban News that more than 90 percent of existing Knight Foundation grants did not get renewed. The challenge grant is slightly more than half the size of the $2.1-million grant that the Knight Foundation gave in 2000 to pay for the program’s first three years. Consequently, additional sources of support will be needed. “During this three year period the Knight Program will form relationships with additional founders/donors to lay the groundwork for sustaining the program and expanding its mission to include tuition-based certificate programs in community building, real estate, and urban design,” a press release said. At a Knight Program symposium, Knight Foundation President Hodding Carter III said the best sign of the program’s success would be if others agreed to provide funds for it. The Knight Program intends to continue awarding 12 fellowships a year to “a diverse group of mid-career professionals with an active interest in community building,” according to Bohl. In May a call was being issued for nominations for new fellows, who will begin a year-long series of activities in the fall. The program, which supported the launch of the New Urban Post and Council Reports on the state of the art in livable community design, will continue sponsoring and producing research and publications. u