Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1530620
December 2024/January 2025 | maconmagazine.com 103 For previous ECC fellows in Macon, the opportunity has been a springboard to their career. Rachel Umana, now the executive director of Bike Walk Macon, piloted the idea during her 2015 ECC project for a biking advocacy coalition called "Bike Macon." Tonja Khabir's 2018 project, "Street Talk: The Bobby Jones Project" sought to bring public attention to the blighted Bobby Jones Performing Arts Center in Pleasant Hill. Khabir has now purchased the property herself and is working on an adaptive reuse of the building. Jonathan Wetherbee is one of this year's ECC cohort from Macon, along with Laura Gómez. Wetherbee is hoping to create an all-inclusive playground for kids across the ability spectrum. While Wetherbee knows the seed grant is just a small fraction of what a playground would cost, he plans to raise awareness about play across abilities and gather feedback from stakeholders. "You feel supported and backed" by a larger network with Knight Foundation, he said. "The Emerging City Champions are a really talented group of urban designers and city planners. I work in the shipping industry. I don't do anything with urban planning and the city side. So for me personally, it taps me into this network of people who are really smart on this stuff , and know all the cutting edge tools and resources for putting something together like this." Getting plugged into the group of other leaders nationwide has been what he values most, but Wetherbee has also found support closer to home. "I'd be remiss to not mention Lynn Murphey and how extraordinary her talents are," he said. "She's both the connective tissue as well as the support and backer for this project." If it seems like all of Macon's thought leaders have a cohesive vision, it's Knight Foundation that provided a lot of the intellectual might behind the scenes. Their participation runs the gamut from established voices and institutions to emerging ideas. Even with the passing of community leader and NewTown Macon CEO Josh Rogers (see page 109), the infl uence of Knight's role as a connector was clear. Kelly Jin, Knight Foundation's chief of staff to the president and CEO and vice president for communities, refl ected on social media: "I'll treasure our inevitable side conversations— from him telling me that while Knight's funding was helpful, nothing compared to the connections and networks we helped him plug into." "They're putting out the roadmap of bold ideas for us to follow, and we're all going to the same destination," Stroud enthused. "People like to say the pharase, 'follow the money.' For Knight Foundation, the expected outcome of their investment is a better community." This is the second article in a two-part series on the recent impact of Knight Foundation in Macon. For the rst article, see Macon Magazine's Oct/Nov issue. The Macon team in Philadelphia for a recent RCC Studio, including DSTO Moore, Erion Smith, Alex Morrison, Weston Stroud, Tonja Khabir, Christele Parham, and Margaret Peth. Photo by Albert Lee courtesy of Macon RCC team.