In the summer of 2023, the Centre for Research and Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (The CRIB) took part in the soft launch of the Black & Brown Gun Violence Research Collective (The Collective) in Chicago, Illinois. The Collective is a union of multi-disciplinary and cross-organizational scholars who use their diverse research expertise to deepen understanding of, and motivate new action to address, the structurally disproportionate gun violence in Black and Brown communities across North America.
Over a dozen funders, partnering agencies and philanthropic organizations attended the launch including Arnold Ventures, the Joyce Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, the National Institute of Justice as well as over 20 Black and Latinx researchers representing diverse research institutions throughout the United States and Canada.
“The CRIB is truly proud to be a part of The Collective," says Tanya Sharpe, a professor in U of T’s Factor-Iwentash Faculty of Social work. Sharpe is the the academic lead of the CRIB and a founding member of The Collective, the only one from Canada.
“It is an incredible opportunity for us to join hands with a consortium of multidisciplinary scholars, and advocates to lead engagement in rigorous, culturally responsive, and equitable research practices that promote healing and save lives in communities across North America disproportionately impacted by gun violence.”
The CRIB’s extensive work to demonstrate the disproportionate gun violence in Black communities has also included, among many projects, the Homicide Tracker, which visually depicts data from 2004 to 2020 on the disproportionate prevalence of homicide in predominantly African, Caribbean and Black neighbourhoods throughout Toronto and illustrates the availability of resources designed to assist family members and friends of murdered victims in surviving the aftermath of tragedy.