The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is supporting The University of Akron with its newest $20,000 grant for service-learning projects and other initiatives in the Akron area.

One of the goals of the Knight Foundation is to facilitate connections and opportunities within the community of Akron that encourage UA graduates to stay, work and live in the northeast Ohio region.

The Knight Foundation is funding 10 grants of up to $1,000 each this semester and another 10 grants of up to $1,000 each for the fall 2015 semester. These grants will help students get involved in experiential learning projects.

UA faculty and instructors are encouraged to request mini-grants to fund service-learning projects embedded in their classes. Service-learning projects typically take the student out of the classroom and allow them to gain experience in the “real world” through service-based experiences.

According to their website, the Knight Foundation is a private and non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting “transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts.”

The Knight Foundation has most recently been attracting attention on and around campus with its Knight Cities Challenge, which is offering up to a total of $5 million in grants for innovative proposals from 26 cities where Knight Ridder once operated newspapers, including Akron. Winners will be chosen from among 126 finalists.

To fill out an application and find out more information about applications, visit UA’s service-learning homepage, <http://www.uakron.edu/service-learning/>.