Spy Hop Receives $50,000 from CFU and Knight Foundation to Develop a Youth-On-Air Broadcasting Program

UTAH YOUTH WILL SHARE THEIR POINTS OF VIEW IN NEW WAYS WITH SUPPORT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL FOUNDATIONS

July 14, 2011, SALT LAKE CITY – Spy Hop Productions, with $50,000 in support from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Community Foundation of Utah, will provide 20 Salt Lake City teens the opportunity to develop a Youth-On-Air broadcasting program.

The funding is part of the Knight Community Information Challenge, which encourages community and place-based foundations to support news and information projects that inform and engage residents.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (2010) found that youth aged 8-18 spent more than 7.5 hours a day seven days a week using smart phones, computers, or other electronic devices. “While many youth are developing sophisticated skills online, they also are experiencing new challenges, like how to manage their online identity and assess the credibility of information. But what’s really exciting, is that our youth can also learn to use these tools to participate in civic and social settings,” said Fraser Nelson, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Utah.

Together, Spy Hop and the Community Foundation of Utah will use this diverse platform to engage Utah’s youth in civic dialogue. Spy Hop students will produce original stories about the issues impacting their lives; these stories will then be shared on TV, radio, and online through web-streaming. Their stories will inform and engage citizens of all ages in conversation around social, political, and economic issues of significance in our communities.

As part of the challenge, the Community Foundation of Utah will match Knight’s support, dollar for dollar, by raising $25,000 in gifts from our local community before September 1, 2011.

“We are honored to receive this challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,” said Nelson. “This partnership is another example of how community foundations leverage philanthropy, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for Utahns to support the groundbreaking work of Spy Hop Productions.”

“The Community Foundation of Utah and others like it are part of a growing number of community and place-based foundations working to ensure residents have the information they need to make important decisions about their communities,” said Trabian Shorters, Knight Foundations’ Vice President for Engaging Communities. “Ultimately, our democracy will only thrive if we have informed and engaged communities.”

About Spy Hop Productions
Spy Hop Productions is a nonprofit youth media arts education center whose purpose is to empower youth to express their voice and with it create positive change in their lives, their community, and the world. Youth-on-Air is a Spy Hop Productions’ youth-produced community based network (television, radio, and internet) that incorporates civic journalism into radio and television episodes to inform and engage viewers and listeners in conversation around social, political, and economic issues of significance in our communities.
About the Community Foundation of Utah
The Community Foundation of Utah is a catalyst for philanthropy that is visionary, diverse and inclusive. Our mission is to harness Utah’s entrepreneurial spirit in service to the common good through smart philanthropy.

About John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.


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Contacts:
Marc Fest, Vice President/Communications, (305) 908-2677, fest@knightfoundation.org
Fraser Nelson, Executive Director, Community Foundation, (801) 559-3005, fraser@utahcf.org