Who We Are | Hope and Heal Fund

Hope and Heal Fund is reducing firearm violence and suicide in California through community-driven solutions rooted in racial equity. By bringing together public health leaders, funders, and advocates, the Fund is saving lives and creating safer, more just communities.
Richard Tate, President & CEO, The California Wellness Foundation

We Take A Public Health Approach To
The Prevention Of Firearm Violence and Self-Harm

Our Mission
To harness the collective power of individuals, communities, corporate leaders, government, and philanthropy to ensure homes and communities are safe and free from death, injury, and trauma due to firearm violence.

Our Vision And Values

Our Vision

SAFE HOMES AND SAFE COMMUNITIES

With firearm violence and self-harm claiming over 400,000 lives nationally and over 32,000 in California in the past decade, there is a vital need for a collaborative and comprehensive approach to keep our homes and communities safe from firearm harm.

Our Values

HOPE Harm from firearms is not an intractable problem; it is preventable.

HEALING Help communities heal the wounds and trauma from firearm violence by taking action together.

PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH This issue must be addressed holistically and intersectionally rather than just reacting to isolated shootings.

EQUITY Equity-based solutions are essential as firearm harm adversely affects communities of color.

INNOVATION We must innovate, as solutions exist beyond policy.

MAXIMIZE IMPACT We must invest in innovative system change efforts that garner greater gains and impact.

TRUST Local leaders can and do provide the best solutions for their communities.

LEADERSHIP Leverage our investments for collective action to create opportunities for change.

Our Story

Hope and Heal Fund was Created to Address a Need

Hope and Heal Fund is a California-based organization advancing innovative solutions to reduce harm and trauma due to violence and suicide, with a key focus on the most lethal means of harm—firearms. Started in 2016 by philanthropic and public health leaders, Hope and Heal Fund was created to provide an innovative, integrative, equitable, and public health approach to an issue that, for decades, has lacked this much-needed focus.

Since its inception, Hope and Heal Fund has been supported by over 20 foundations and over 50 individual donors. We have raised over $10 million to support impacted communities and push government systems to respond holistically to firearm harm, all with an equity lens.

Led By Executive Director Brian Malte

Brian Malte is a nationally recognized leader in the gun violence prevention movement. Over the course of his 30-year career, Brian has led community-based movements as well as national and state policy efforts.

Brian started his career as a successful community and state organizer building local capacity, and he served as the National Policy Director and National Outreach Director for Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. At Hope and Heal Fund, Brian now spearheads the philanthropic movement to increase support to local violence prevention organizations and to address the causes and drivers of firearm harm.

Brian became one of the country’s most familiar spokesmen for the burgeoning gun violence prevention movement. He has been a featured speaker at many state and national conferences and routinely provides expert analysis to news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NPR and Mother Jones.

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