Philadelphia wins 5 of the 33 Knight City Challenge awards

Grant recipients in the third and final round of the Knight Cities Challenge have been announced. The foundation supports groups that are looking at innovative ways to improve city life.

Philadelphia fared very well, with five projects to receive more than $1 million of the $5 million granted.

Little Giant Creative, for a project called “A Dream Deferred: PHL Redlining — Past, Present, Future,” with a goal of convening decision-makers, social entrepreneurs, activists, and innovators to discuss equitable community development.

City of Philadelphia, for PHL Participatory Design Lab, which would citizens in neighborhoods all over the city to design city service solutions with a mobile, participatory city design lab.
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, for a project called “Tabadul: [Re]Presenting and [Ex]Changing Our America,” with a goal of creating public cultural exchange forums to connect communities through photographic displays expressing the identities of youth.
Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, for a project called “Up Up & Away: Building a Programming Space for Comics & Beyond,” which would create workshops anf professioinal development for aspiring comic creators from diverse communities. 
Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Corp., for Vendor Village in the Park, a marketplace for immigrant cuisine entrepreneurs in Mifflin Square Park.

Patrick Morgan, Philadelphia Program Director for the Knight Foundation says they were attracted to the authenticity of the Philadelphia proposals. “One of the things that we’re trying to do with the Cities Challenge overall is support what we call ‘passion projects’ — there’s clearly a passion, clearly an energy, and a capacity and knowledge to pull it off,” he said.

Morgan and grantee Tayyib Smith spoke with NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller. Listen to their conversation below.