NextGenRadio

Native American Journalists Association

Finding, coaching and training public media’s next generation.

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“In the Time of COVID-19”

is a set of audio and digital stories highlighting the experiences of people whose lives have changed dramatically during the pandemic.

This project was produced in November 2021 in partnership with the Native American Journalists Association and conducted virtually. Our reporters are early-career journalists.

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

Preserving Jicarilla culture during the pandemic

Andrew Mendez
by HEATHER C. GOMEZ

Shasta Muniz is living a dream she never realized she had — to own her own photography business. Not just any old business, a female Indigenous-owned business, that launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Indigenous activist helps Salt Lake City’s unsheltered population through direct action

Andrew Mendez
by MIACEL SPOTTED ELK

Carl Moore is a Hopi/Chemheuvi activist who works with people experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake City. A year ago, he lost his job at a virtual reality company because of the pandemic. Since then, he’e been a full-time activist.

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

A battle with mental health, while studying one’s identity

Andrew Mendez
by ROBERT HAUKAAS

After graduating and leaving college, Canyon Plant-Haukaas found herself at a battle with her mental health and a changing world. Robert Haukaas reports on Canyon’s road to mental health wellness and finding support.

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

Meth recovery amid a global pandemic

Andrew Mendez
by STORM TSO

Cody Honani has been in active recovery from a meth addiction. Throughout the pandemic he’s received support from his family, and also turned to volunteering to stay clean.

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

How learning an Indigenous language leads to healing

Andrew Mendez
by LYNDSEY BROLLINI

With university class Mondays and Wednesdays, Tsimshian lullabies on Sundays and Tsimshian games on Fridays, Nancy Barnes is learning the Tsimshian language, Sm’algya̱x, almost every day of the week. It keeps her busy through the pandemic so she doesn’t dwell on the rate of COVID-19 infections in Alaska, one of the highest in the U.S.

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 – Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné) - Managing Editor, Indian Country Today; Traci Tong - Freelance Editor, Public Media Journalists Association;  Adreanna Rodriguez - (Standing Rock Sioux) Producer/Editor, VICE News. 
  • Digital Editors – Lita Beck - (Navajo) Equity Issues Editor, The Arizona Republic/Gannett; Joanne Griffith - Chief Content Officer, APM Studios
  • Audio Tech – Selena Seay-Reynolds - Freelance Audio Engineer; Patrice Mondragon - Audio Engineer, Colorado Public Radio; Eric Abercrombie - Freelance Sound Designer
  • Editorial Illustrators – Emily Whang - Freelance Illustrator; Ard Su - Freelance Illustrator; Eejoon Choi - Freelance Illustrator 
  • Visuals – Erica Lee - Freelance Visual Journalist; Kevin Beaty - Visual Journalist, The Denverite & Colorado Public Radio
  • Web Developer – Robert Boos, Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis

Our journalist/mentors for this project were:

  • Christine Trudeau (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) - Contributing Editor, High Country News Indigenous Affairs Desk

  • Cristela Guerra - Arts and Culture Reporter, WBUR

  • Sam Yellowhorse Kesler (Navajo) - Codeswitch Fellow, NPR

  • Taylar Stagner (Shoshone and Arapaho) - Tribal Affairs Reporter, Yellowstone Public Radio

  • Seth Bodine - Agriculture and Rural Issues Reporter, KOSU

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