Gray's passion for the work goes beyond client success — it extends to the systemic landscape those clients must navigate. When the federal government launched its Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) following the national reckoning over racial inequality in 2020, Gray was among the voices paying close attention. The program promised meaningful investment in Black-focused, Black-led, and Black-serving organizations. The rollout, however, fell short.

Organizations began sharing experiences on social media, describing a process that felt adversarial rather than supportive. Some of Gray's own clients received conflicting responses from the intermediary assigned to administer the grant. Compelled to speak up, she published an op-ed in Policy Options that called out the racial bias baked into the application process itself.

"The way it was rolled out did not take into consideration the nuances of Black-led and Black-serving organizations," she wrote. Her core argument: broad change cannot happen without acknowledging that the grant-making process still operates within a system of inequity. She called on the government to consult and engage Black-led organizations from the very beginning of program design — not after the fact — and to build funding pathways that account for organizations at different stages of development, including grassroots groups without registered charitable status.

She also advocated for more unrestricted funding. "A lot of funding is program-specific. But our organizations, because we're already at a disadvantage, need unrestricted funding — to cover rent, salary, operational costs — that gives us a real opportunity to be competitive." Gray notes that the advocacy did not fall on deaf ears, and that the government has since made attempts to be more inclusive in its design processes. The work, however, is ongoing.