Brown Hope responds to racial injustice through healing justice. Our theory of change uses a healing justice framework to address the cycles of harm perpetuated by historic and ongoing racial trauma, and outlines our dream for collective healing.

The Racial Trauma Crisis

Racial trauma, both historical and ongoing, has impacted Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities for centuries, passing wounding from generation to generation.

The legacy and ongoing consequences of racial trauma are:

• Material
• Emotional
• Psychological
• Spiritual

These traumas serve as a formidable obstacle for Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. Both for our livelihoods, but also for our long term efforts to grow a world free from racism. Brown Hope creates and delivers solutions to heal from racial trauma and make our dreams a reality.

Healing is Liberation

At Brown Hope, healing means liberation. We work to liberate ourselves from the lies of racism and white supremacy every single day. Any attempts to devalue or harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous lives are invalidated by our inherent worth. Through inner transformation, we make injustice powerless against us.

With Brown Hope’s four core strategies, we act as a bridge with people across different backgrounds to support an ecosystem of unique programs that embrace abundance, promote solidarity, and nurture a world of healing and justice.

Core Strategy #1: Nourishing Abundance

Pain confuses and hinders us. But a stronger force, love, inspires and nourishes us. Each and every one of us has the power to transform pain into love.

And in our abundant world, there is more than enough love for everyone.

We inspire others to embrace love and abundance by centering and aligning the heart, mind, and voice.

Heart. Through the Heart, we are a spiritual gym, creating spaces that foster emotional connection and elevate the common threads of humanity between us.

Mind. Through the Mind, we are a thought laboratory, creating people-powered opportunities for anti-oppression learning and collective consciousness-building.

Voice. Through the Voice, we are a chorus of change, creating a beautiful alternative to messages of despair and building collective momentum for justice.

Core Strategy #2: Building Multiracial Momentum

We serve as a bridge with people across all backgrounds to inspire collective action on racial justice. We build multiracial momentum by cultivating the hope we need to heal from racism and ensuring financial, social, and spiritual capital is shared by all.

Our programs recognize that members of our Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities are agents of change. We center the power of culturally relevant, peer-based healing and leadership activities that is accessible as possible to Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

Brown Hope also works with racially privileged allies towards the collective healing we all need and deserve.

Core Strategy #3: Inspiring Healing Justice

Brown Hope believes that healing is the pathway to justice. We create spaces of vulnerability and empowerment for individuals and communities to nurture their spirit, foster the deepest connections, and heal from the trauma of racism.

Four Stages of Healing Framework

While it can be challenging to create a common definition and measurement of healing, Brown Hope deepened its understanding of healing justice through our ‘Four Stages of Healing’ framework, which identifies healing at four stages of society: individual, interpersonal, community, and systems. Four measurable outcomes were developed in reflection of each of these stages.

• Systems Outcome: To transform policies and systems for lasting Black, Brown, and Indigenous prosperity and healing.

• **Community Outcome: **To build and inspire new ways of economic and community development that reinforce cultural identity and solidarity.

• Interpersonal Outcome: To foster relationships of solidarity, healing, and connection among Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

• Individual Outcome: To empower Black, Brown, and Indigenous community members to reclaim their own wellness and identity.

Achieving healing at any of these levels is critical, but lasting change is dependent on active effort within all four levels of healing.

Core Strategy #4: Planting Seeds of Change

Brown Hope believes that embracing the principles of ecology will transform the harmful, unsustainable systems of the present into healthy, resilient ecosystems. We plant seeds of change by increasing Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities’ knowledge and resources to heal through the heart, mind, and voice.

Our Seeds of Change – Economic, Social, and Spiritual Capital

Economic Capital: we strive for all people to be free of basic economic burdens by sharing financial and material capital– without red tape or bureaucracy.

Social Capital: we promote togetherness by increasing people’s access to healthy interpersonal, community, and systems connections.

Spiritual Capital: we encourage individuals to embrace the power of healing from within, aligning our individual hearts, minds, and voices to the spiritual bond that connects us all.

We grow economic, social, and spiritual capital through these key service areas: (examples are presented in parentheses)

• Direct community aid (financial relief, mutual aid resources, emergency services)

• Economic empowerment (workforce development, job training, professional mentorship)

• Community building (civic engagement, arts and culture, civic capacity building, intercultural dialogues, restorative justice)

• Mental and emotional health (peer support, somatic healing services and trainings, resiliency training, information and referral)

• Education and advocacy (workshops, public awareness, narrative strategy, policy work)