Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1530620
100 maconmagazine.com | December 2024/January 2025 "I think some people don't understand the benefi t of exposure. Not just exposure through books or the internet, but actual immersive experience in of someone else's city. It creates an opportunity for you to dream, because you see it happening somewhere else." Most places don't have an invisible hand kind of guiding them in best practices. That's where Knight Foundation comes in," said Weston Stroud. Stroud knows fi rsthand, serving as co-convener for Macon's Reimagining the Civic Commons (RCC) team as part of his role as the county's fi rst Traffi c Safety Manager. He's also a former recipient of a Knight Emerging City Champions fellowship. "You'll never see it in the stat sheets, but one of the things that's the most impactful is having actual backing for innovation." Stroud's travels to meetings and conferences through Knight Foundations has made a deep impact on his work and nonprofi t service. He points to his passion for pedestrian safety and equitable public spaces as an interest he wouldn't have had without Knight. He isn't alone. Many community leaders have looked to Knight Foundation to connect them with peers around the country and even the world. Macon is better for it. The lessons learned in these settings can be seen in the faces shaping the city's future, and these plans have been put into action due to an extraordinary $14 million investment announced in 2023. T R AVE L F U E L S C IVI C I MAG I NAT I O N , F RO M MAC O N TO M E M P H I S TO M IAM I Stroud most recently traveled with a half- dozen Maconites to Philadelphia for an RCC Studio meeting. At the studio, he met civic-minded people from not just Philly, but also from cities as far away as San Jose and as close as Memphis. Stroud explained the trip made him sharper in explaining the story of Macon's triumphs and challenges. "In those settings, with urban planning rock stars, you have to communicate to people from all backgrounds, in a place that we're all new to together. I found that with the team in Detroit, music heritage was a common ground with Macon," he said. "How do you explain the history and continue the culture of a city when outsiders arrive?" Another member of the RCC team, Andrea Cooke, went on an earlier journey to Lexington, Kentucky. Cooke is a Macon native, and she said it's broadened her horizons as a leader: "I think some people don't understand the benefi t of exposure. Not just exposure through books or the internet, but actual immersive experience in of someone else's city. It creates an opportunity for you to dream, because you see it happening somewhere else." Cooke credits Lynn Murphey, Knight's Macon director, for turning these dreams into reality. "She's very accessible. I know if I have an idea about a project, or want to know information, I can go directly to her and she'll give me the honor-bound truth about whether it's viable," she said. "Then if it's not viable, she off ers linkages to people who may be able to help execute." Yoga in the Plaza, a signature program Cooke started in Macon, began as one of those dreams based on what she saw somewhere else. "I was able to see how they started with three or four people who came out to do this free yoga class [in Lexington]. Over the course of two years, it's now hundreds of people that come out to do a free yoga class in their downtown park space." Now Cooke runs the class herself in Executive Editor Caleb Slinkard shows off The Macon Melody to journalists from around the world during a curated outing to Macon at the Online News Association conference.