Illustration by Lauren Ibañez 

Indigenous Newsroom | April 2022

About this project:

We are finding, coaching and training public media’s next generation. This #nprnextgenradio project features five talented reporters and a visual journalist participating in a week-long state-of-the-art training program.

In this project we are highlighting the experiences of people whose lives are being affected by climate change.

Photo credit: Pherit via Flickr

illustration of boy looking down from the sky and holding what appears to be a boat filled with miniature people.

Protecting the waterways: Onondaga paddler unites ancestral paths with environmental activism

Protecting the waterways: Onondaga paddler unites ancestral paths with environmental activism

Adrianna Adame

by ADRIANNA ADAME

Hickory Edwards, a member of the Onondaga Nation, Turtle Clan, is the founder of the Onondaga Canoe and Kayak Club. For the last 15 years, he’s been using canoeing to connect with his ancestral history and to encourage others to get involved with water preservation efforts.

illustration of boy looking down from the sky and holding what appears to be a boat filled with miniature people.

Leveraging treaty rights and wild rice, Ojibwe attorney takes on pipeline

Leveraging treaty rights and wild rice, Ojibwe attorney takes on pipeline

Joseph Lee

by JOSEPH LEE

Frank Bibeau is an Ojibwe attorney who grew up canoeing in the lakes and rivers of Northern Minnesota, fishing and harvesting wild rice with his family. He is now using Rights of Nature — an innovative legal movement that protects water, animals and ecosystems by giving them legal rights —to see if wild rice can stop a pipeline.

illustration of boy looking down from the sky and holding what appears to be a boat filled with miniature people.

In Montana, Blackfeet chef uses food knowledge to combat global warming

In Montana, Blackfeet chef uses food knowledge to combat global warming

JoVonne Wagner

by JOVONNE WAGNER

Mariah Gladstone showcases Indigneous ingredients on her online cooking show to support food sovereignty in efforts to ensure a sustainable future for Indian Country.

illustration of boy looking down from the sky and holding what appears to be a boat filled with miniature people.

'The dysfunctions are not ours': Adapting to climate crisis with traditional ecological knowledge

'The dysfunctions are not ours': Adapting to climate crisis with traditional ecological knowledge

Nathan Abrams

by NATHAN ABRAMS

Swinomish elder and Community Environmental Health Specialist Larry Campbell has worked for over a decade at the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on the Indigenous Health Indicators project. Campbell seeks to integrate community needs into the tribe’s climate adaptation response.

illustration of boy looking down from the sky and holding what appears to be a boat filled with miniature people.

How Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe is fighting ‘perpetual problem’ of green crab invasion

How Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe is fighting ‘perpetual problem’ of green crab invasion

Shana Lombard

by SHANA LOMBARD

Larissa Ritzman of the Shoalwater Bay Natural Resources Department is trying to capture the pesky European green crab, an invasive species discovered in Willapa Bay in the 1990s.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The Next Generation Radio Project is a week-long digital journalism training project designed to give competitively selected participants, who are interested in radio and journalism, the skills and opportunity to report and produce their own multimedia story. Those chosen for the project are paired with a professional journalist who serves as their mentor.

This edition of the #NPRNextGenRadio project was produced in collaboration with:

  • Managing Editors – Michelle Faust Raghavan - Independent Editor, Portland, Oregon; Phyllis Fletcher - Independent Editor, Seattle
  • Digital Editors – Alexis L. Richardson, Chief Innovation Officer/Digital Content Strategist, Philadelphia; Lita Beck (Navajo) - Senior Politics Editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer;  Heather C. Gomez (Jicarilla Apache) - Freelance Digital Editor, Dulce, New Mexico
  • Audio Tech – Selena Seay-Reynolds - Freelance Audio Engineer, Los Angeles; Abby Fritz, Freelance Audio Tech/Producer, Syracuse, New York
  • Editorial Illustrators – Lauren Ibañez, Freelance Editorial Illustrator, Houston; Eejoon Choi - Freelance Editorial Illustrator, Los Angeles; Ard Su - Freelance Editorial Illustrator, New York
  • Visuals –  Todd Michalek, Freelance Visual Journalist, Syracuse, New York
  • Web Developer – Robert Boos, Freelance Creative Technologist, Minneapolis

Our journalist/mentors for this project were:

  • Pauly Denetclaw - Politics Reporter, Indian Country Today, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Savannah Maher - Reporter, Marketplace, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Taylar Stegner (Shoshone and Arapaho) - Tribal & Rural Reporter, Wyoming Public Radio
  • Tarryn Mento - Reporting Fellow, WAER, Syracuse, New York
  • Carrie Jung - Education Reporter, WBUR, Boston

NPR’s Next Generation Radio program is directed by its founder, Doug Mitchell.

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