The Our City project is the first in a series of topic specific global journalism experiments committed to solving the most pressing problems of our time through local reporting on global issues. Instead of depending on a strategy of journalists from influential institutions fanning out to hot spots around the world to produce authentic reports, this experiment focuses on enabling local storytellers to report on global issues with training and assistance from the Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami.

Our City:  Global Issues, Local Stories

Greening the Grid

The Czech Republic is a country with a coal-fueled industrial past that's exploring new sustainable ways to power the country and its polluted cities. Across the United States, similar innovative sustainable energy projects are an important part of the country's new emphasis on clean energy. See how individuals in these two countries are developing innovate approaches to environmental sustainability.

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My Story, My Goal

Fourteen University of Miami multimedia graduate students teamed with students from seven Knight Center for International Media partner schools in Africa and Asia to tell stories that personalize the UN Millennium Development Goals. Each team found personal local stories that shed light on critical global issues, including poverty, maternal health, environmental sustainability, universal education, gender equality, HIV AIDS and children's health.

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Halloween in Miami

The personality of a city is often revealed in its celebration of cultural, local and national holidays. Meet residents of Miami as they share their unique perspectives on two of the country's more visual celebrations.

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Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day was popularized in Pennsylvania during the late 1800s during a time when German settlers predominantly populated the region. It supposedly has its origins in ancient European lore wherein a badger or sacred bear prognosticates the end of winter, rather than the groundhog. In South Florida, there are no wild groundhogs or much in the way of winter, so the holiday takes on interesting cultural variations.

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Un Techo

Un Techo Para Mi PaĆ­s is a Latin American organization that builds houses in 14 countries to assist underprivileged citizens who cannot afford homes or who have lost their homes following natural disasters. Students visited six cities to document how the non-profit and volunteer sectors can make a difference at the family and community level.

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Pricing out the West Grove

More than 40 percent of the 3,000 residents of the 65-block section of Coconut Grove know as The West Grove live below the poverty level and median household income is less than a third that of neighboring Coral Gables. Yet, despite more than 200 abandoned buildings and vacant lots, many residents cannot afford to live in their ancestral homes.

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Aguas Negras

A Knight Center Special Assignment Report by multimedia journalist Janet Jarman examines Mexico City's use of "Aguas Negras" or "Black Waters" to irrigate and fertilize the surrounding farmlands. Farmers and officials share their views on the value and health risks of using raw sewage to nurture a variety of vegetable crops. Viewers can add their own photographs to a gallery related to global water issues.

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Miami: A City of Latino Immigrants

According to census data, only 17.8 percent of the population of Miami-Dade county is comprised of White, non-Hispanic people compared to more than 60 percent in the rest of Florida and more than 50 percent of the people living in Miami-Dade county were born outside of the United States. These audio narratives examine issues of language and migration.

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Nuestra Mirada Revista

Revistanuestramirada is the second phase of a Knight Center resident professional project by Ecuadoran photographer Pablo Corral Vega. Pablo first built a social network of Latin American photographers, http://nuestramirada.org, and the publication of the online magazine on the great cities of Latin America (the first issue is on Buenos Aires ). A second issue on Mexico City is due out soon.

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Welcome to the Magic City

Enjoy a visual tour of the neighborhoods and unique cultural aspects of the city of Miami through this series of video postcards.

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Miami's Silent Struggle

The City of Miami has one of the highest poverty rates and one of the lowest median incomes among large US cities, according to the most recent Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Miami ranks in the bottom five of U.S. cities with more than 250,000 people. Miami's Silent Struggle introduces some of the citizens of Miami who are fighting to be more than a statistic.

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Miami-Havana

This series about the dreams and aspirations of young people in Miami and Havana, was launched by Franco-German public media company ARTE site at http://Havana-miami.tv. The Miami stories were created as part of Sanjeev Chatterjee's honors colloquium class "Portraits from a World City: Miami." Havana-Miami is a co-production of the Knight Center for Internatioal Media, Tamouz Media (New York) and Allegria (France).

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