Addressing Trauma and Healing for Black Communities

Addressing Trauma and Healing for Black Communities is sponsored by Meyer Memorial Trust. A funding opportunity under the Justice Oregon for Black Lives initiative, focusing on projects that address trauma and healing within Black communities in Oregon.

Today, Justice Oregon for Black Lives is excited to open our first call for proposals in three years — an invitation to organizations across the state to dream with us toward a healed future for Black Oregonians. Shaped in partnership with a seven-member community advisory committee, this funding opportunity reflects a shared commitment to addressing trauma and nurturing healing in ways defined by Black communities.

What if we could build a future where Black communities across Oregon — from rural towns to urban neighborhoods — could breathe deeply and move through their lives with a sense of safety, belonging and possibility? It would look like elders gathering in spaces that honor their histories, young people learning in classrooms that affirm their full identities and neighborhoods where care and creativity turn remembrance into roots.

In this vision, healing wouldn’t be abstract or aspirational — it would be felt in rested bodies, resourced families and culturally grounded spaces celebrating Black life. ## How Black Wellness Became Our North Star This is the type of dreaming we did back in 2021 when Black leaders joined Justice Oregon’s community advisory board to identify funding priority areas. No matter what topic we discussed, healing constantly came up.

We all knew that to fulfill Justice Oregon’s mission of transformative change for Black Oregonians, we had to ensure mental well-being was centered. So after months of collaborating, we decided to create a dedicated funding stream — Addressing Trauma and Healing — solely focused on supporting Black wellness and interrupting the historical and ongoing traumas faced by our community.

One of the first organizations to apply was WomenFirst Referral and Transition Center. When we visited their space, we learned what Black healing and recovery looked like in practice. Focused on supporting women of color recently released from incarceration, then Executive Director Shannon Olive told us they gave clients “the tools to love themselves, achieve their goals and live a life of joy.

” Even as staff recounted the difficulties of working within the carceral system to build trust with participants, they told stories of self-affirmation, discovery and fun in their work with clients. WomenFirst acknowledged the trauma faced by our community while setting the groundwork toward a healed future. Through this approach, a new future came into view — one shaped by trust, affirmation and care.

## **Holding What Endures, Naming What Must Change** Fast forward to 2025, when seven leaders gathered once more to reenvision the previous goals of that framework. For months, we reflected deeply on the structural and local conditions shaping Black life today, examined the language commonly used in healing justice spaces and developed a shared glossary to bring clarity and intention to this work.

We discussed that healing is multi-faceted for our community: it can increase our sense of safety and create spaces to address past harms. We also centered on Black joy as an anchor to begin healing. It can look like resistance, celebration and connection with each other and nature.

Our advisory committee encouraged us to use affirmative language in the new framework, moving away from concepts like “de-stigmaitizing Black trauma” to “investing in ecosystems that prioritize Black healing and joy.

” They also highlighted the importance of investing in Black sovereignty movements in wellness that move away from dominant culture paradigms and allow us to dream of new models of community care that will outlast this perilous moment. Shannon passed away last year, but her commitment to ensuring Black women and people can live a life of joy resonates with me to this day. > “Keep fighting for each other,” she said.

“Keep building bridges, not walls. Love out loud. And don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can’t do.

You can, and you will. ” ## Calling in the Work of Black Healing Through this call, Justice Oregon seeks to support organizations and collaboratives advancing community-driven research in health and wellness, expanding access to mental and physical wellbeing and advocating for systems that prioritize Black healing.

We are guided by the truth expressed by Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. ” This opportunity honors self and collective care as essential, transformative and deeply political.

We honor Shannon through this funding opportunity and through our deep gratitude for the organizations carrying this work forward — showing, every day, what Black healing looks like in practice. Click here for more information, including the full RFP, info session registration and grantee resources. What could a more relationship-based approach to grantmaking look like?...

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