Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's  recent  news update  included two items that are both near and dear to Knight Foundation - and great news for the city.

First, Coleman announced a new  fund to help small businesses survive construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, 11-miles of rail that will connect Minneapolis and St. Paul.  The  Central Corridor Funders Collaborative  was instrumental in supporting the planning for the project and then leveraged $1 million in public funds with a $500,000  grant . Knight was one of the lead foundations that helped launch this funders collaborative.  The line is scheduled to open for riders in 2014.

The second focused on the public launch of Knight's  library grant to support a  Mobile  Workplace . It will provide ten classes every week throughout the summer to teach residents the essential computer skills they need to compete in the 21st century.  By bringing these classes out into the community, we are able to reach residents who don’t have ready access to computers or the internet. Many of the people who attend these classes have never used a computer before, and digital literacy has become a prerequisite for the modern workplace.   One great part of this initiative is that we are able to offer classes to residents in English, Somali, Spanish, Hmong, Karen, Amharic, and Tigrinya.

The grant was part of Knight's Library Initiative, a 20-city effort to enhance digital access and training.

Dennis Scholl

Great news for the national arts scene: Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation’s Miami program director and a longtime arts advocate and philanthropist, will head up Knight’s new national cultural arts efforts. Dennis was just named vice president/arts for Knight Foundation. He’ll work with arts leaders in different communities around the country where the Knight brothers owned newspapers – from Detroit, Akron, Charlotte and Philadelphia to Macon, Miami, San Jose and St. Paul – to promote the arts and find innovative cultural programs that enrich people’s lives. He has already has helped transform the South Florida arts scene with Miami’s Knight Arts Challenge, $40 million initiative that aims to unite the region through the arts (finalists will be named in May in the contest’s third round).

With one of the top contemporary art collections in the US and experience leading local and national philanthropic efforts in the visual arts, Dennis’s passion and energy for the arts makes him particularly well-suited for his new post at Knight. He has also ventured into the role of creator as writer and co-producer of a short film, Sunday’s Best, which was just shown at the Aspen Shortsfest 2010. Besides his broad involvement in the arts, Dennis co-founded Betts & Scholl, an international wine venture, and has practiced law, worked as a CPA and restored Art Deco properties on South Beach. We at Knight are looking forward to continuing to transform communities with Dennis’s leadership.