Knight Foundation Funds Public Policy Advocacy Training for Nonprofits
D.C.-based Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest has announced a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in support of its Accelerating Public Policy Advocacy in Knight Communities project, which works with nonprofits to strengthen their advocacy skills and activities.
"This is our second grant from the Knight Foundation, and we look forward to further developing our important partnership over the next four years to advance the public policy participation of Knight community nonprofits," said CLPI president Elizabeth M. Heagy. "This grant allows us to develop and implement a curriculum for Public Policy Advocacy Clinics to help these nonprofits become much more involved in the public policy process."
CLPI, which itself is funded through Knight's National Venture Fund, will work with the nonprofits in the twenty-six cities and towns where Knight is a local funder to develop public policy plans for their organizations and teach the leaders of those organizations strategies to strengthen their public policy advocacy. To that end, CLPI will partner with four national organizations funded by Knight — the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Afterschool Alliance, both based in Washington, D.C., the Chicago-based Center for Economic Progress; and the Four Freedoms Forum — on issues that are relevant to both the organizations and Knight communities. The Four Freedoms Forum is a collaborative fund of six foundations — the Knight, Ford, Mertz Gilmore and Joyce foundations, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Open Society Institute — supporting public interest projects to promote immigrant engagement in society.
"In an era of devolution and de-funding, nonprofit organizations no longer have the luxury of watching from the sidelines," said outgoing Knight president and CEO Hodding Carter III. "They can — must — talk directly to public officials about the need for their programs and lobby for legislative support."
