GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has awarded a grant of $100,000 to support Native News Online's reporting on health equity issues in Indian Country.
The one-year grant will fund the Native-led and Native-serving media outlet's "Changing the Narrative About Indian Country: A Native American Reporting Project," focusing on four pressing health equity issues facing Native American communities and their citizens: mental health, environmental health, maternal mortality, and the overdose crisis. This comprehensive reporting initiative aims to highlight innovative, culturally centered solutions developed by Native communities.
"We're grateful to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians for this grant and for their commitment to support this critical work on healthcare equity issues impacting Native Americans," said Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi), editor and publisher of Native News Online. "This funding will significantly enhance our ability to report on critical health equity issues in Indian Country."
The grant comes at a critical time, as American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to face significant health disparities. According to data from the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services, Native Americans have a life expectancy 5.5 years shorter than the U.S. all-races population. They experience higher mortality rates across numerous health issues, including heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, and diabetes.
These health inequities are rooted in complex socioeconomic factors, including disproportionate poverty, and discrimination in healthcare delivery. Native News Online's expanded health equity coverage aims to shed light on these issues and highlight culturally appropriate solutions.
News and feature coverage will be led by award-winning Senior Editor Elyse Wild, recently honored at the America Honors Recovery Gala Dinner in Washington, D.C., for her reporting on the overdose crisis in Indian Country. Wild received the first-ever Excellence in Recovery Journalism Award for her dedication to investigative journalism and compassionate, fact-based storytelling that inspires empathy and challenges stigmas.
Joining Wild in this endeavor is staff reporter Kaili Berg (Aleut), a member of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq Nation and a shareholder of Koniag, Inc. Berg has covered Indian health news during the past two years at Native News Online and brings reporting experience from her previous work with the Ho-Chunk Nation newspaper, Hocak Worak.
“It is essential that information that underscores the devastating health disparities across Indian Country be tracked and fully reported publicly,” said Lynn Valbuena, chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “It is unfortunate that despite the federal trust obligations to provide health and human services to Native peoples, we remain at the bottom rung for receiving such services. Shedding a light on these issues should reveal all parties who are complicit in underserving tribal people.”
The project aims to partner with 10 other Native-owned and mainstream media outlets to distribute health equity stories throughout Indian Country and the U.S. Native News Online also seeks to increase its core audience by 10 percent among tribal leaders, citizens, policymakers, philanthropists, allies, and Native advocates.
Founded in 2011, Native News Online provides news to millions of Native and non-Native readers through its website, free daily newsletters, and social media channels, as well as its weekly Livestream interview show, Native Bidaske.
This grant builds upon the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians' previous support for Native journalism, demonstrating the Band’s ongoing commitment to amplifying Indigenous voices and perspectives in the media landscape.
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