From Thursday’s Tallahassee Democrat:

In the coming months The Village Square would like to go from getting people to eat their broccoli to eating double-fudge chocolate cake — at least metaphorically.

“The challenge is very often local issues are overlooked with the 24-hour cycle of news on national and state issues,” said Liz Joyner, Village Square executive director. “So asking people to come learn about local issue No. 177 is kind of like asking people to eat their broccoli.”

Read the whole article online HERE.

But now the local nonprofit will be able to spruce up its community forums thanks to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Donor Advised Fund.

The foundation allocated $124,000 in grant money to fund five community projects at various local nonprofits, said Joy Watkins, president of the Community Foundation of North Florida.

The projects are Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida’s Engaging Immigrants and Promoting Citizenship project; Goodwood Museum and Gardens Inc.’s Blended Lives project; The Oasis Center for Women & Girls Inc.’s Women Can Run project; The Village Square’s Get Local project; and the Community Foundation of North Florida’s FindLearnGive.org project.

Watkins said the projects were chosen based on their relativity to the Knight Foundation’s mission.

Moving forward, she’s excited by the FindLearnGive.org project. The site will be an online database of local nonprofits and charities, allowing people to find them, learn about them and then give to them, Watkins said. It will be launched in the summer.

“It’s so in line with what the Knight Foundation is trying to do in communities with keeping people informed,” she added.

Joyner said in the coming weeks The Village Square will be releasing the dates of its new forums called “Our Town.” The forums will help to revitalize the concept of neighbors with different perspectives and ideas becoming partners in solving local issues instead of being enemies. There will also be an online component called “We the Wiki” that is in the works now.

The organization is grateful for the Knight Foundation’s support in helping making it all happen, Joyner added.

“We think that the Knight Foundation is doing some of the most important civic work in America today in ensuring that communities are informed and engaged,” she said. “Tallahassee is extremely fortunate to be a designated Knight community. We consider ourselves honored to have been given this grant.”