The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will continue its support of the community revitalization of Macon, Georgia with a $5 million grant, the Foundation announced this week.
The grant will fund a $3 million campaign to encourage and implement residents’ ideas about transforming the College Hill neighborhood, and a $2 million grant to Mercer University to found the College Hill Alliance.
The Knight Foundation recently commemorated the opening of Mercer Village, College Hill’s first retail district, one year after the Foundation awarded Mercer University a community planning grant. The grant announced this week continues with a similar mission, but marks the largest single grant to date from the Foundation in Macon.
Mercer University president William D. Underwood called the grant “a major catalyst for implementing the master plan, for funding creative, transformational ideas from residents and organizations in the Corridor and for attracting private and public financing that will allow realization of the College Hill vision.”
The $3 million grant will go toward the Knight Neighborhood Challenge, a campaign that funds the best residents’ ideas for revitalizing the community’s parks, arts and entertainment scene, and public spaces, all while promoting civic engagement.
The grant will also allocate $2 million to found the College Hill Alliance, an organization that will work to accelerate neighborhood revitalization, with a focus on beautification and securing additional investors.
The College Hill Corridor Commission was founded in 2007 by Mercer University and former Macon mayor C. Jack Ellis, inspired by the community revitalization ideas of Mercer University students.
“The Knight Foundation’s investment will leverage additional capital and will advance a physical and social resurgence in the historic and cultural heart of one of the South’s great cities,” said Underwood.
