The Big Picture

Gun violence and premature deaths in Black communities represent both a public health crisis and a social justice issue. Traditional approaches to prevention often overlook trusted community institutions that hold generational knowledge. This conceptual study proposes a theoretical framework exploring how Black Funeral Home Directors (BFHDs) could potentially serve as culturally grounded partners in reducing mortality and addressing gun violence, offering innovative theoretical approaches that could integrate social work, criminology, and public health in future violence prevention efforts.

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What We Did

The authors developed a conceptual framework called Epidemiological Criminology to explore how BFHDs’ unique cultural competence and neighborhood-level insights could potentially support social work and public health practices in combating firearm-related deaths. The study examined the historical role of Black funeral homes, their access to intergenerational demographic and mortality data, and their position as trusted institutions. The framework theorizes opportunities for future collaboration with social workers to deliver trauma-informed, culturally sensitive interventions, while acknowledging significant implementation challenges that require further research.

1

Disproportionate Impact of Gun Violence:

Black youth and young adults face significantly higher firearm homicide rates than white counterparts. For example, in 2022 the gun homicide rate for Black boys ages 15–19 was 86.94 per 100,000, compared to 3.38 per 100,000 for white boys.

2

Community Trauma:

Exposure to gun violence leads to cycles of grief, PTSD, and depression among families and entire communities, exacerbating long-term disparities in education, health, and employment.

3

Historical and Cultural Role of BFHDs:

Funeral homes in Black communities have historically served as stable institutions maintaining genealogical records, supporting bereavement, and offering culturally resonant spaces for healing.

4

Theoretical Framework for Intervention:

The proposed model suggests BFHDs could potentially engage in prevention at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels—from safety planning and violence interrupters at funerals, to immediate response strategies, to making referrals for long-term trauma care. However, this framework requires empirical validation and resolution of significant funding and training challenges.

Understanding the potential role of BFHDs in reducing premature deaths could inform future research that:

1

Explores partnerships with trusted, place-based institutions in violence prevention

2

Develops culturally competent approaches bridging social work, public health, and criminal justice

3

Investigates trauma-informed responses that extend beyond traditional law enforcement strategies

4

Addresses the gap between theoretical frameworks and practical implementation

1

Pilot Program Development:

Test proposed interventions through small-scale, funded pilot programs to validate theoretical concepts.

2

Stakeholder Engagement:

Gather perspectives from BFHDs, community members, and social workers on the feasibility and acceptability of proposed partnerships.

3

Training Protocol Development:

Create and test specific curricula for BFHD-social worker collaboration, including trauma-informed care and violence interruption techniques.

4

Sustainable Funding Models:

Investigate grants, insurance coverage, and partnerships with foundations to support these collaborative models without burdening families or funeral homes.

5

Outcome Measurement:

Develop validated metrics to assess the effectiveness of community-based violence prevention approaches.

The takeaway?

This conceptual paper proposes that Black Funeral Home Directors could potentially serve as trusted, culturally competent allies in disrupting cycles of violence and premature death. The theoretical framework combining epidemiological criminology with social work practice offers a promising foundation for future empirical research that could lead to innovative, community-based violence prevention strategies. However, significant research, funding, and implementation challenges must be addressed before these concepts can be translated into practice.

About the Study

This article was published in Social Work in Public Health on September 13, 2025. The full APA citation is: Rice II, J., Jones-Eversley, S. D., Gilliam, C. C., Dickens, D., & Henderson, H. (2025). Partnering with Black funeral home directors to reduce mortality and gun violence. Social Work in Public Health. Advance online publication.