KNIGHT PROGRAM HOSTS NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMMUNITY BUILDING MARCH 22-23, 2004 IN CORAL GABLES, FL

 Feb. 12, 2004--How can we build more livable communities and improve our quality of life? The annual symposium of the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami School of Architecture explores these issues. Place Making and Community Building: Sharing Experiences from Knight Communities gathers nationally renowned experts involved in community building, including the Knight Program fellows, a group of 37 mid-career professionals committed to improving how and where we live. The symposium is free and takes place on March 22-23 at The Omni Colonnade in Coral Gables, FL. Advance registration is required. For a continually updated schedule of the symposium, check the website www.arc.miami.edu/knight.

The symposium focuses on the challenges and achievements of community building in the 26 communities that are part of the Knight Foundation’s Community Partners Program. The symposium is an unprecedented opportunity for members of the Knight communities to showcase their efforts and outcomes in the context of the other Knight communities.

Presenters span a range of professions—policymakers, program managers, citizens, planners, elected officials, and others. . Invited speakers include: Hodding Carter, III, president of the Knight Foundation; Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami; Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture; Charles Bohl, director of the Knight Program; J. Walker Smith, president, Yakelovich Partners; Donald Carter, principal, Urban Design Associates; Daniella Levine, founder and executive director of the Human Services Coalition of Dade County; Carol Coletta, producer and host of the public radio program Smart City and a 2003 Knight Program fellow; Philip Langdon, author of A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb and a 2001 Knight Program fellow; and Laurie Volk, co-managing director of Zimmerman/Volk Associates and a 2002 Knight Program fellow.

“The symposium brings together experts who are on the cutting-edge when it comes to community building, but who come from a wide range of professions,” notes Charles Bohl, director of the Knight Program. “These are people who don’t typically meet each other in the course of their daily work lives, but who are often working towards the same ends. In providing this forum for sharing their experiences and successes, the symposium will advance the knowledge, practice, and art of community building. We also hope it will foster interdisciplinary collaboration, as so many of the Knight Program activities do.”

Presentations will encompass policy, management, and community design issues, emphasizing the six priority areas of the Knight Foundation’s Community Partners Program: education, well-being of children and families, housing and community development, economic development, civic engagement/positive human relations, vitality of cultural life.

Symposium Hours, Attendance, and Lodging

Hours are 8 am – 5 pm on Monday and Tuesday. Admission is free but capacity is limited; registration is required by March 15; registration form is posted on the Knight Program website (www.arc.miami.edu/knight). For information contact: 305.284.4420 or knight@arc.miami.edu. Rooms are being held at a special rate of $159/night at the historic Omni Colonnade Hotel in downtown Coral Gables; call 800.843.6664 and request the room block of University of Miami Architecture by Feb. 21 to secure that rate.

About the Knight Program in Community Building

The mission of the Knight Program in Community Building is to advance the knowledge and practice of effective community building through interdisciplinary initiatives including mid-career fellowships, graduate scholarships, conferences, charrettes, and publications. The Knight Program is based at the University of Miami School of Architecture and is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of twenty-six U.S. communities. See www.arc.miami.edu/knight for more information.

About the Knight Foundation and the Knight Communities

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was established in 1950 as a private foundation independent of the Knight brothers' newspaper enterprises. It is dedicated to furthering their ideals of service to community, to the highest standards of journalistic excellence and to the defense of a free press. The Knight Foundation has two signature programs, Journalism Initiatives and Community Partners, each with its own eligibility requirements. A third program, the National Venture Fund, nurtures innovation, leadership and experimentation for community investments that might benefit Knight communities. See www.knightfdn.org for more information.

The 26 Knight Communities are:

Aberdeen, SD (Brown County); Akron, OH (Summit County); Biloxi, MS, (Harrison County); Boca Raton, FL, (Palm Beach County); Boulder, CO (Boulder County); Bradenton, FL (Manatee County); Charlotte, NC (Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Union counties, NC, and York County, SC); Columbus, GA, (Muskogee County, GA, and Phenix City, AL); Columbia, SC (Richland County); Detroit, MI (Wayne, Macomb, Oakland and Washtenaw counties); Duluth, MN (St Louis County, MN, and City of Superior, WI); Fort Wayne, IN (Allen County); Gary, IN (Lake County); Grand Forks, ND (Grand Forks County, ND, and Polk County, MN); Lexington, KY (Fayette, Bourbon, Clark, Jessamine, Madison, Montgomery, Scott and Woodford counties); Long Beach, CA (cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill); Macon, GA (Bibb County); Miami, FL Miami-Dade and Broward counties); Milledgeville, GA (Baldwin County); Myrtle Beach, SC (Horry County); Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, PA, and city of Camden, NJ); San Jose, CA (Santa Clara, southern Alameda and southern San Mateo counties); State College, PA, (Centre County); St Paul, MN (Ramsey County); Tallahassee, FL (Leon County); and Wichita, KN (Sedgwick County).

The University of Miami School of Architecture

A central tenet of the University of Miami School of Architecture is building livable communities. The school’s mission begins with community and a focus on the city as a work of art and architecture. Led by Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the School of Architecture has achieved international distinction. Areas of specialized study include suburb and town design, computing, and research. See www.arc.miami.edu for more information.

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