About the Center for Transformative Grief Justice
Funding & Partnerships
Current partnerships and collaborators
The Center for Transformative Grief Justice, Inc. (CTGJ) works alongside a growing network of community organizations, coalitions, and public systems across New York City's five boroughs. Our current work is supported through a combination of:
- Individual donors and community contributions
- Private grants and philanthropic support
- Programmatic collaborations with community based organizations, mutual aid networks, and local institutions
We currently operate as a nonmedical, community based nonprofit and do not bill Medicaid or commercial insurance at this time. Our services focus on trauma informed case management, supports brokerage, housing and benefits navigation, peer support, and skills building programs that promote emotional resilience, life stability, and economic mobility.
In Development: Medicaid & Social Care Network Participation
CTGJ has obtained a Type 2 National Provider Identifier (NPI 1780529867) and is in the process of completing enrollment as a New York State Medicaid Community Based Organization (CBO) provider. This enrollment will allow us to:
- Participate in New York’s Social Care Network (SCN) infrastructure
- Partner directly with Medicaid managed care plans and health systems
- Deliver reimbursable Health Related Social Needs (HRSN) services such as housing navigation, benefits and entitlement assistance, and trauma informed supports brokerage for Medicaid members
Until our Medicaid enrollment and SCN contracts are finalized, all CTGJ services continue to be funded through philanthropic support and non Medicaid partnerships. We will update this page as new Medicaid and Social Care Network partnerships are formally executed.
Our Mission
The Center for Transformative Grief Justice exists to address the emotional, social, and economic impacts of systemic harm by transforming lived experience into healing, workforce pathways, and long-term community resilience.
Our Vision
We envision a world where Black, Brown, and historically marginalized communities have access to healing-centered spaces, economic stability, and systems that work for people—not around them.
Our Story: From Harper Phoenix to Healing Justice
Rooted in love. Built by the community. Powered by healing.
Grief is not just an emotion—it is a weight we carry. For Black, Brown, and historically marginalized communities, grief is compounded by systemic loss, generational trauma, and the absence of safe spaces to heal.
Founder Tina White knows this journey firsthand. From the pain of losing her parents to facing poverty and homelessness, Tina's story is lived, not theoretical.
"People are fighting loud battles like homelessness and poverty… while carrying quiet ones like depression, trauma, and grief—all alone."
From this lived reality and the early work of Harper Phoenix, the Center for Transformative Grief Justice was born as a community-rooted response: a place where grief, justice, and long-term resilience are held together.
What We Do
We address grief at three interconnected levels: healing, economic stability, and systemic change.
Healing-Centered Programs
We create culturally grounded, trauma-informed spaces where individuals and communities can process grief and build collective care, including: Healing Justice Circles, art-based healing, and youth mental health initiatives.
Economic Mobility
We support pathways from survival to stability through workforce development and economic mobility initiatives that honor lived experience as expertise and create routes to sustainable independence.
Policy & Advocacy
We work to change the systems that shape grief by advancing policy and advocacy focused on equitable grief care funding, access, and infrastructure for historically marginalized communities.
Our Approach
Our work is guided by principles of:
Through community-led solutions, we build systems that work for people, not around them.
Impact at a Glance
Lives impacted through healing, training, and community-based support
Core programs advancing healing, economic mobility, and systems change
Transparent, with a 2026 Candid Gold Seal of Transparency
Our Founder
Tina White
Founder & Executive Director
Tina is a grief justice practitioner, organizer, and leader whose life has been shaped by profound loss, poverty, and the failures of existing systems. Her journey from surviving homelessness and family loss to building community-based solutions grounds the Center's work in lived experience, rigor, and deep care for those most impacted by systemic harm.
Our Community
The Center is rooted in and guided by community. Our programs, strategies, and priorities are shaped alongside those directly affected by systemic violence, generational trauma, and inequitable access to care.
We partner with community-based organizations, mutual aid networks, schools, health providers, and public systems to build an ecosystem of support that honors both loud and quiet battles of grief.
