Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

April 26, 2023

National Park Service Funding Opportunity: Empower Indigenous Women to Share Their Story, Their Way

Request for Proposals

Empower Indigenous Women to Share Their Story, Their Way

Deadline: May 19, 2023

Project Description

The National Park Service (NPS) seeks to enter into an agreement to provide oral history workshops in Native American communities to build capacity around preserving Native American heritage and at the same time, produce high quality oral histories featuring the experiences and perspectives of Indigenous women. The project will offer free training workshops to Native American Tribal Citizens on documenting oral history, encourage participants to record at least one oral history with a relative or community member, perform archival and post-production work on the recorded histories, and consult with Native American Governments on the use and disposition of recorded histories. The resulting collection of histories will be archived according to Tribal Government wishes. Portions of the histories deemed appropriate for public use will be made available to Tribally owned and operated cultural institutions as well as the National Park Service to help the public better understand Native Women’s perspectives on life, land, culture, and history. 

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of this project is to involve Indigenous People in telling American history from their perspective through academic study, consultation, and the creation of interpretive media.

This project will support the work of Indigenous scholars, academics, historians, and cultural experts by offering culturally relevant and sensitive oral history training that will offer Indigenous women the opportunity to share their perspectives by telling stories about their own experiences, and those of their families and ancestors, through oral history. These oral histories, and the accompanying consultation with Native American Tribes to archive them and select portions for public use, will shape the way the National Park Service shares history with its visitors and contribute to a broader public awareness and understanding of the unique experiences of Indigenous women and their contributions to culture and society.

The primary objectives of this project are to: 1.) build capacity in Native American communities to document oral history;  2.) offer Native American women an opportunity to share their story so their experiences and knowledge can be preserved;  3.) create multi-media content to share a multitude of Native American women’s perspectives with the public.

This project will honor Indigenous Women’s history by sharing their stories in their words through multi-media interviews that preserve their voice, countenance, history, memories, experiences, and stories of their ancestors. This project will result in 20-80 people trained to document oral history and approximately 20-40 public facing recordings for use in interpretation at Tribally-owned cultural institutions and museums as well as National Park Service sites.  

Deliverables

The project deliverables include the following:

  1. 1-3 in-person oral history training workshops at sites convenient for the Native American audiences they are designed to serve.
  2. 1-2 online oral history webinars for people who cannot attend in person.
  3. Between 20-80 oral history recordings archived according to Tribal Government preferences.
  4. Between 20 and 40 mixed media recordings of oral histories that can be used in public interpretation at cultural sits, museums, and National Park Service sites.

Qualifications of the Principal Investigator(s) and Project Team

Principal Investigator(s) (PIs) must be historians, anthropologists, or cultural experts with a record of applied experience teaching and collecting oral history using mixed media and high professional standing. The qualifications of additional team members should complement the goals and objectives of this study. Include all qualifications and experience in your proposal. Special cultural expertise will be considered.

It is preferred that students are part of the research team, but it is not required in the proposal.

Period of Performance

The agreement should begin no later than September 2023.  The anticipated duration of the project is one-two years.

Budget

This project is eligible for $164,097 from which salaries, travel, consultation fees, transcriptions, materials, and overhead must not exceed. This project will be implemented under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) agreement already in place with your institution, which sets the indirect cost rate at 17.5%.  A detailed budget should be included in your proposal.

Materials Requested for Proposal

Please prepare a formal proposal of no more than five (5) pages of how you would envision and successfully execute this project. Include your name, credentials, and contact information, as well as information about any relevant experience, special expertise, past projects, and staff, faculty, or students/interns who would be available to work on the project. Include a budget. See the three proposal evaluation elements below.

Proposal Evaluation

Proposals will be evaluated for selection according to:

  1. Experience/Qualifications of Research Team – outline your qualifications and experience as Principal Investigator to accomplish this project.  Include a description of qualifications and experience of those who will assist in the project as part of the research team.
  1. Methodology – describe the methodologies you will use to execute this project as well as the timelines to achieve the desired outcomes.
  1. Budget – provide a reasonable budget of costs for this project. Please acknowledge that you would be able to perform the project within the stated financial ceiling. Also describe how your use of funds will benefit Indigenous people and/or communities.
  1. Relationships – this project relies heavily on the ability of the research team to leverage existing relationships and create new ones. Please describe your network of connectedness and how you will cultivate and maintain relationships throughout this project.

Please direct any inquiries to Amanda Hammond (contact below)

Please submit your proposal to Amanda Hammond by no later than COB Wednesday, May 19. Please use the subject line “Proposal for NPS Native American Reconstruction Story,” to ensure that the email is properly received and reviewed.

Amanda Hammond

National Park Service Interpretive Planner

NPS South Atlantic Gulf Region, Region 2

(928) 614-8848

amanda_hammond@nps.gov