The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, in collaboration with the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) and Salvation and Social Justice, is hosting a virtual learning community aimed at fostering partnerships between Black faith leaders and community-led organizations in order to address the public safety and health needs of Black communities.

Black churches have long filled gaps in essential community needs and often step forward in times of crisis to support and stabilize their neighborhoods. This learning community builds on the deep trust that communities place in Black churches, recognizing their important role in responding to social and public health challenges and their untapped potential to shape public safety initiatives. By offering a targeted guidance for Black faith leaders and community-led organizations to overcome structural barriers, this learning community offers an opportunity to build and strengthen partnerships, assess and leverage resources, and connect with other Black faith leaders.

The learning community will be led by Salvation and Social Justice, a Black-led, faith-rooted social service organization, along with support from the CSG Justice Center, a national nonprofit that provides data-driven solutions for complex justice challenges, and CPE, a leader in public safety design.

Participants will have opportunities for mutual learning through peer-to-peer support and guidance from leading experts in faith-based, community-led public health initiatives and reimagined public safety responses. They will learn how to create effective plans to advocate for, develop, and sustain faith-centered, community-focused policies and programs. Additionally, they will have an opportunity to address specific challenges they are facing with the support of staff from the CSG Justice Center, CPE, and Salvation and Social Justice.

The topics for the sessions will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the learning community participants. However, potential subjects may include best practices for cultivating stakeholders, resource and asset mapping, developing a theory of change, advocacy messaging, and communicating impact to achieve sustainability, among others.

Session dates will occur on:
January 21, 2026
February 18, 2026
March 18, 2026
April 15, 2026
May 20, 2026

All sessions will take place from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET via Zoom.

Black faith leaders or community-led organizations that partner with Black-led churches and wish to participate should complete and submit this application by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 10, 2025. A staff member from the CSG Justice Center will follow up with applicants by November 18, 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact Felicia Lopez Wright at fwright@csg.org.

This application should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.  

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