The Arrow Reporting Residency
A NARRATIVE RECLAIMING PROJECT
The Carlisle Arrow was among many student-run newspapers chronicling daily life at the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School. Among the dispatches were those about the school’s Outing Program which placed young Natives with white families to work as housekeepers and farmhands across the East Coast. Some students flourished in the program. Others fled, died, or disappeared.
The Arrow Reporting Residency is reclaiming these pages to reveal all that was omitted - an unfinished story of memory and impact.
Deadline to Apply: Dec. 31, 2021
The Arrow Reporting Residency seeks five individuals with ancestral ties to the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School and its experimental Outing Program. Over the course of five months, storytellers will receive a small stipend, virtual training, and ongoing mentorship to achieve a publishable piece of paid reportage centering Carlisle Outing memory with modern impact. This is a pilot project exercising resistance to systems of colonial representation, extraction, and exploitation of the Indigenous narrative - a reflection on the past to reveal connections that bind not only Native Americans but all Americans.
No reporting experience is required. Ideal candidates are:
those who hold kinship knowledge within their respective families
young people looking to learn about their ancestral ties to Carlisle
descendants of eastern Pennsylvania families with a known connection to the Outing program
those seeking answers to the deaths or disappearances of Native students on Outing
Reporting Workshop Jan. 2022
As an Arrow resident, you will be expected to take part in a one-day reporting workshop presented by Indigenously in January 2022. In exchange for your time, you’ll receive a $250 stipend for your participation, a GrubHub lunch card (or supplementary voucher for rural-based attendees), and a reporting kit sent ahead of the virtual gathering.
The daylong virtual workshop will be led by a group of journalists, archivists, and historians who will lead discussions and breakout sessions about best practices in reporting, from story concept to paid publication.
Workshop topics include:
organizing story strategy
researching the Carlisle archives
sourcing alternative archive collections
exploring personal family records
understanding best practices for trauma-informed reporting
producing publishable content with the guidance of editors
Stages of the Residency
Nov 1 : Open Call for Applications
Dec 31: Deadline 11:59 PM EDT
Dec 17: Residents Announced
Jan 12: The Arrow Reporting Residency Workshop (Virtual)
April/May: Works Published
Application Process
Interested applicants are welcome to apply online beginning on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021 through Nov. 30, 2021, 11:59 PM EDT.
Applications are evaluated by a selection committee comprised of both journalists and historians familiar with the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School. Reviewers will evaluate submissions against a number of predetermined criteria to create a shortlist of five finalists. Applicants will be notified by email by mid-December about the status of their submissions. The confirmed cohort of five residents will be announced publicly on or around Dec. 17.
There is no fee to apply to The Arrow Reporting Residency. Applicants can submit as many proposals as they’d like.
Application Requirements
A description of the proposed project, including research and reporting goals, in no more than 250 words
A preliminary archival overview including a basic breakdown of known documents associated with the proposed project
At least one sample of archival ephemera or evidence germane to the proposal (a photograph, a newspaper clipping, an Outing record)
One letter of support from a relative, an Elder, a community member, a historian, etc.
A cover letter
A brief bio
Applications may also include a more detailed description of the project but this will be considered as an optional supplement only. The most important part of the submission is the 250-word summary. Apply here.
Contact
To learn more about whether your project is a good fit, see our FAQ or contact us at info@indigenously.org
