In Buffalo, New York we welcome over 1800 refugees each year, as we are one of the larger resettlement cities on the east coast. In urban Buffalo, approximately 25% of the population lives in poverty and in communities that have limited services. And in small settlements in the Bahamas, isolation limits access. Many across these populations have experienced not only grief, but complex grief. Their stories of grief are unexpected and are often laced with violence and abandonment. And even though these populations experience significant losses, with respect to grief and recovery, many within the refugee population, along with urban, underserved community members are left to navigate the grief process alone due to a lack of programming and due to current programming not being representative of their cultural experiences. I am interested in exploring how culture and context can inform national faith-based grief recovery programs in order to help bring viable and relatable faith-based programming to communities in need. I propose to undertake a study that documents the various cultural expressions of grief and how culture and context impacts grief recovery work. Using focus groups, interviews and field observations, I want to compile the experiences of grief across four communities: 1) a first ring suburban congregation on the edge of Buffalo 2) a core city West side community (Predominantly Hispanic and international refugees) 3) a core city Eastside community (predominantly African American) and 4) A rural Caribbean island community. Through this project I seek to educate clergy about this gap in service and generate conversation across churches about outreach strategies for faith-based grief support and recovery.