Funding instability for Black-led organizations

The gap in funding is especially pronounced for Black-led and Black-serving organizations that Black gun violence survivors and homicide-bereaved families trust and turn to for support. Black-led organizations, those founded, governed, and operated by Black people with deep roots in the communities they serve, received just 0.03% of all philanthropic foundation funds, meaning grants and donations from private and community foundations rather than government sources, in the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 fiscal years (Pereira et al., 2020). Black-serving organizations, which include mainstream victim service providers and community organizations that serve Black clients but are not necessarily Black-led, received only 0.15% during the same period (Pereira et al., 2020). These figures speak to a broader pattern of chronic underinvestment that extends across funding streams and requires urgent attention at every level of government. Both Black gun violence survivors and homicide-bereaved families and friends seek relational, community-anchored support in the aftermath of violent loss and injury, consistently turning to trusted networks, spiritual communities, and Black-led organizations as they are perceived as safer and better equipped to understand the layered dimensions of their experiences (Sharpe, 2008; Sharpe et al., 2025). Critically, investment must flow not only to Black-led organizations but also to mainstream victim service providers willing to develop culturally responsive practices in genuine collaboration with Black communities, ensuring that those who deliver services have the training, relationships, and accountability structures necessary to serve Black survivors with competence and care (Jeffers, 2023; Sharpe et al., 2025). When programs are forced to scale back or close due to unstable funding, established pathways to healing are disrupted, trauma is compounded, and frontline workers who are often themselves survivors are left demoralized and structurally unsupported. Mapping these initiatives and developing sustained, adequate funding streams across both Black-led and culturally trained mainstream organizations is a foundational requirement for any serious policy commitment to supporting Black survivors of gun violence and homicide loss across Canada.