Columbus has a $1.26 billion operating budget. Over $850 million of that goes to police and fire. That’s the response. That’s after something already went wrong. Now look at prevention. The entire Office of Violence Prevention… about $16.4 million. Even if you stretch it and include youth programs, domestic violence services, and community safety efforts… you’re looking at maybe $40 million total. That’s it. So what does that really mean? For every dollar spent trying to stop violence before it starts… the city spends $20 to $50 dealing with the aftermath. Let that sit. Now bring it home. The neighborhoods dealing with the highest levels of violence… the same neighborhoods dealing with housing instability, underfunded schools, limited healthcare access, economic pressure… are expected to change outcomes with a fraction of the investment. And here’s the part nobody says out loud. If prevention actually worked at scale… if communities were stabilized… if violence dropped significantly… the system that absorbs $850 million a year would have to shrink. So instead… we fund the response and underfund the solution then act surprised when nothing changes. This isn’t confusion. This is design. You cannot seriously say you want to reduce violence… while investing 1–3% of your budget into preventing it. Black Wall standard is simple. We don’t measure what was said. We don’t measure what was promised. We measure what was funded… and what actually changed. Right now the numbers are clear. Violence prevention in Columbus is not being funded like a priority. It’s being funded like an afterthought.