KU lands grant funding to boost Indigenous representation in news media using character-based approach

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has received two grants aimed at elevating Indigenous representation in news media using a character-based and solutions-oriented approach to coverage of Indigenous identity, issues and communities.

Solutions journalism for mental health

Melissa Greene-Blye, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications and Indigenous studies at KU, is the principal investigator of a $7,500 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. The funding will be used to support a team of student journalists covering mental health issues among Indigenous youth with a solutions-based focus. “Good Morning Indian Country” will take part in this year’s Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge.

The Center for Community News recognized the role of “Good Morning Indian Country” in filling an important gap in coverage of Indigenous news in Lawrence and nearby areas and recommended it for the grant. “Good Morning Indian Country” includes students from KU and Haskell Indian Nations University collaborating on a weekly news program for Indigenous communities across the region, streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. The funding will also provide training and monthly meetings with leaders from the Solutions Journalism Network.

“They teach student-led outlets what it means to do solutions-based journalism,” Greene-Blye said of the network. “That’s designed to do rigorous reporting in response to social problems. The emphasis is not on the drama of the problem but looks at a response to that problem and if it has worked or not, and why that matters to your audience.”

The grant, for the 2026-27 academic year, will fund the creation of a student-led team to guide the coverage, and it will also support two community-engaged events for student journalists and others to discuss mental health challenges for Native youth, focusing on resources and programming that are available to provide support and solutions. Kiera Hageman, a KU journalism student, will serve as the executive producer for the project.

The project is designed to not only train student journalists in Kansas but to enable them to provide examples of successful solutions-driven journalism to other young journalists covering Indigenous communities.

“The idea is that what you’re covering is also an issue affecting other communities and is something other newsrooms can look to and help change discourse around a certain topic,” said Greene-Blye, a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. “I hope this will help students learn how to tell stories in a way that helps address mental health and issues they see in their own lives and communities. And I hope it helps make solutions journalism a regular part of coverage.”

Character education journalism

Greene-Blye has also received a $50,000 grant from the Wake Forest Educating Character Initiative to provide character-based education to student journalists based on traditional Indigenous values. The capacity-building grant will support the development of curriculum and and trainings for student journalists informed by traditional community values to supplement their journalistic skills training.

“Many of the answers in how we can give back to our communities already exist in what we call ‘the grandfather teachings,’” Greene-Blye said. “This project will ask, ‘What if we think about making good humans first, then good journalists?’ If we can teach those values — not only to Indigenous journalists, but to allies as well — I think we could affect a real change in coverage of issues in Native communities.”

Greene-Blye is partnering with the Indigenous Journalists Association to develop a model for this training that can then be used to develop a long-term, character-based training program for student journalists and their mentors. The goal is to develop traditional character traits among the student journalists, then build networks for long-term mentoring as well as to evaluate what aspects of the training were most effective.

Ultimately, the two grant-funded projects are designed to build mentor networks among journalists and help young media professionals across the country move beyond “problem of the day” reporting on Indigenous issues and focus on solutions-oriented coverage and accountability.

“I hope we’re growing a generation of journalists who will be able to enter newsrooms nationwide and put community first in their coverage,” Greene-Blye said.