Analyzing Knight Foundation’s efforts in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, reporter Dick Polman writes,

Today, nearly three years after the storm, and with expenditures thus far totaling roughly $10 million, Knight Foundation can rightly point to a string of achievements - most notably, its crucial role in bringing world-class planners and architects to the afflicted region, and prompting citizens to chart new communities in ways they had never before imagined. Yet at the same time, political, cultural and financial obstacles have impeded recovery on virtually all fronts. In the words of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who is praised for his recovery efforts even by political foes, “It’s all been way too slow to suit me.”

Here’s a recent comment on the article by James W. Cromwell:

…After reading your article I have a different perspective of some of your good intentions that your foundation had for the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. But I think you have been hoodwinked by the business men of these communities into believing that your monies were being used to help the citizens when it was really being used to help big business…

Adele Lyons, Knight Program Director for Biloxi responded:

…A long-term recovery after a hurricane like Katrina takes many organizations working together. We have worked with several of the funders you noted including the Twenty-First Century Foundation, OxFam, Ford Foundation and Foundation for the Mid South. We work together as part of the Gulf Coast Funders for Equity. Several of us helped organize the Funders’ Forum for Sustainable Gulf Coast Transformation held in September 2007.

We wanted to know what happened after Katrina. In the first few days, Knight Foundation made emergency grants to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross totaling $1 million to help with the relief efforts. Relief was slow to reach the East Biloxi citizens. Additional emergency grants totaling $110,000 went to several small, local nonprofits. And, of course, many of our grantees continue to work in East Biloxi…

See the East Biloxi grantee list and both comments in their entirety here.

Find more of Knight’s “Stories of Transformation” here.

Editor’s note: Matt Bergheiser is Knight Program Director for Philadelphia. Below, he describes a new Knight investment in the future of the Ben Franklin Parkway.

In Philadelphia, Knight has made the case that compelling, dynamic public spaces can change the feel and perception of our entire city.

The Ben Franklin Parkway is such a place, and a recent Knight investment of $1.25 million has helped to put this wonderful, sweeping promenade on a path to being transformed into a signature cultural campus for the entire region.

Read a recent editorial for more details on this effort.

What would you like to see in the new Ben Franklin Parkway?

Editor’s note: Matt Bergheiser is Knight Program Director for Philadelphia. He adds context below to a recent article on the new Job Opportunity Investment Network (JOIN).

Knight’s work in Philadelphia continues to focus on building connections to jobs and opportunities. One significant platform for change is the Job Opportunity Investment Network, a Knight-led funding collaborative which creates advancement opportunities for lower-skilled Philadelphians into career ladder jobs.

From the article:

“The idea is to create a fund that will invest in connecting lower-skilled workers to career ladder opportunities,” said Matt Bergheiser, Philadelphia program director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has formed a partnership with the state, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board to establish Job Opportunity Investment Network (JOIN).

The founding partners of JOIN have raised $1.6 million and have close to another $2 million in the pipeline from other entities that are in the process of submitting requests for funding to their board of directors, Bergheiser said. In addition, JOIN applied last month for $450,000 over three years from NFWS– the maximum grant support it can receive — which will have to be matched 25 cents on the dollar. With or without the grant support, JOIN will roll out, he said.

“I think it’s critical; our target audience is people marginally attached to the work force,” Bergheiser said. “A lot of times they are the very first to go in an economy like this.”

Look for more information in coming months about JOIN. What questions do you have about this new network?