John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Community Information Challenge

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is issuing a call to journalists to consider getting involved in a $24 million initiative. This initiative will engage community foundations in a grant-making challenge to find creative uses of media and technology to help keep communities informed and their citizens engaged. Journalists are encouraged to contact their local community foundation and together, craft a project that may help meet the information needs of their community.

The five-year Knight Community Information Challenge is launched as the media world undergoes rapid change and acknowledges that there is less local information readily available. The challenge is premised on two strongly held beliefs: 1) in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function properly; it is a core need, and 2) since community foundations are established to meet core community needs, they are logical partners in meeting the information needs of communities. The Knight Foundation hopes this challenge will help with the development of community conversations around key issues and civic concerns; creation of new products and online sites that offer local news to local communities.

The foundation hopes journalists will take this opportunity to introduce themselves to the community foundation in their area and explore a possible proposal. The application deadline is September 15, 2008.

For more information, go to www.informationneeds.org for additional information concerning this challenge.