Community Power and Policy 

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• Reimagined how California invests in equitable clean up and reuse of contaminated lands, collaborating with the California Environmental Justice Alliance and the California Department of Toxic Substance Control to rewrite the grant guidelines for the Equitable Communitunity Revitalization Grant program. Our analysis of the early results shows that $100 million distributed had a more equitable impact than previous approaches.
• Collaborated with housing justice movement leaders in California on several community-based research processes that led to a collective vision for scaling community owned housing; strategy sessions aimed at expanding and strengthening the community ownership ecosystem in California; and policy recommendations for repairing racial harm as part of the California Roadmap Home, establishing a new statewide social housing system, and supporting resident governance in social housing.
  

Democracy & Belonging Forum

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• In 2025, the Forum launched the (En)Gendering Authoritarianism research collaboration with Over Zero; Research examines how authoritarian movements weaponize gender and sexuality to divide societies, normalize hierarchies, and consolidate power. The project identifies six strategies through which political and cultural leaders leverage gender for authoritarian ends, illuminating its intersection with race, migration, and religion in Europe and the US. Part 1, outlining the larger framework, was released in 2025; part 2, elevating examples of counter-strategies across contexts, follows in 2026.

• Published 5 long-form Connecting the Dots essays analysing political developments related to global authoritarian populism movements; Essays including explorations of authoritarian narratives around women and family and how authoritarian populists weaponize the language of justice and democracy while undermining both.

• Published the Bridging in Practice paper series, highlighting case studies of how communities across Europe and North America are responding to the rise of authoritarian populism and the erosion of democratic norms. While many governments restrict freedoms and normalize exclusion, practitioners featured in this series are advancing practices of bridging and belonging that resist division. From citizens’ assemblies in central and eastern Europe to dialogue formats in Russia and Germany, radical youth bridging programs in Sweden and Big Tent organizing in the US, these contributions highlight both bold experiments and hard-earned lessons.

• Launched the Understanding Authoritarianism resource library designed to empower educators, organizers, students, and everyday people with the insight and language needed to challenge authoritarianism, stand up for democracy, and build a world of belonging without othering. The library consists of a curated collection of articles, essays, tools, and analyses to help readers understand the roots, tactics, and impacts of authoritarian movements. 

Equity Metrics

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• Provided data, analysis, and an interactive map for the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) Opportunity Mapping Project, guiding the development of affordable housing in high-resource areas.

• Launched the 2025 version of the Inclusiveness Index, ranking US states and countries.

• Updated the Zoning Reform Tracker with newly identified or proposed municipal reforms, and with the updated reform stages for the existing reforms in the tracker with Feb 28, 2025 as the cutoff date.

• Created San Francisco and Philadelphia city progress report cards to showcase the levels of Black-white disparities between 2000 and 2023 across a number of key indicators. Also, developed a dashboard to showcase a snapshot of Black-white disparities across 80+ indicators tracking data for the most recent years. Additionally, researched the racial disparities in homeownership rates in California.

• Updated The Roots of Structural Racism Project data using 2020 census boundaries, and added new racial and economic segregation measures. The updated project also includes two brand new essays which look at the relationship between segregation and diversity, and a comparison of segregation measures. We were also commissioned by HUD to develop and share 2020 and 2010 (adjusted to 2020 census boundaries) racial segregation data which they hosted on their dashboard.

Global Justice Program

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• Led California’s 5th Climate Change Assessment Topical Synthesis Report on climate-induced human displacement and migration.

• Expanded the Climate Displacement and Resilience Database to 166 country case studies.

• Advanced Islamophobia research and engagement through the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (IISRA) and related policy and advocacy collaborations.

• Expanded the Islamophobic Legislative Database, marking nearly 10 years of tracking Islamophobic laws and policies in the United States.

• Published Asia-Pacific Just Transitions report surveying how the Just Transition framework and its principles advance climate, food, and environmental justice across 60 countries

Network for Transformative Change

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• With partners in the Bridging for Democracy project, OBI carried out multiple rounds of digital message testing experiments to understand which core values most resonate across diverse audiences when thinking about immigrant belonging in the United States.

• Wrote a report analyzing the state of immigrant belonging in Santa Clara County, CA, with our partners at the Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations. The report summarizes key findings from a multi-year study that included a survey and qualitative data collection with the county’s diverse immigrant communities. It is forthcoming in 2026.

Places of Belonging

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• Conducted shared research on Collaborative Governance with the CP3 team and many organizational partners, report forthcoming in 2026.

• Researched bell hooks' archives as a special project at Berea College and published "Lessons and Lingerings."

Publications

• Published 12 research reports and 28 blog posts and memos on topics including defending democracy against authoritarianism, preserving and expanding social housing, the role of bridging in civic engagement, just transitions and the global economy, and much more.

Equity Metrics

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• Equity Metrics organized an Equity Data Convening, inviting researchers and practitioners from Canada, The US and Mexico to share their experience and expertise through this virtual convening on April 30, 2025
  
  

Global Justice Program

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• Launched the Global South Lab and the Arab Women and Feminist Visions for Equity and Belonging series and held a Views from the Global South event.
• Launched a partnership with Beyond Climate Collaborative to co-host the International School on Climate Mobilities.

Network for Transformative Change

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• In December, OBI's Bridging for Democracy team presented at the biannual Gamaliel Network Race & Power conference in Detroit. Ponsella Hardaway from MOSES, DeAngelo Bester from the Workers Center for Racial Justice, Sara Freudenberg, a local pastor, and Mansi Kathuria from OBI talked about the Bridging for Democracy project to a packed room of organizers. They led a discussion about how bridging can support and strengthen power building across the movement field.  

OBI University

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• OBI University transformed into a live meeting space for a book club on john powell and Rachelle Galloway-Popotas’ new book, The Power of Bridging. People from around the world gathered biweekly to discuss a new chapter of the book. Participants supplemented their learnings through creative and somatic workshops, and community-led sessions. Special guests included co-authors john and Rachelle, dancer Sarah Crowell, poet Julia McKeown, visionary Jose Richard Aviles, curiosity-expert Scott Shigeoka, librarian Shamichael Hallman, and more. 

Places of Belonging

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• Successfully offered the first Belonging Practice Community as a virtual cohort for leaders advancing belonging to learn together, to build relationships, and strengthen practice. The 2.0 cohort is set to launch in August 2026, with registration opening in May 2026. 
• Established and led a local host committee in preparation for the 2026 conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

Democracy & Belonging Forum

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• The Forum launched its inaugural Network Catalyzers Program, which supports selected Forum members in founding and growing their own communities focused on bridging, belonging, and democracy, with strategic support including peer learning, mentorship, and an honorarium. In 2025, the Forum supported six communities in France, the US and Mexico addressing topics such as bridging in rural regions and intergenerational engagement among immigrant families.

• The Forum hosted 38 virtual events in 2025 for network members across four series:

  1. Bridgers Roundtables, bringing together bridging practitioners from the Forum with women peacebuilders from the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) to explore shared challenges in engaging across difference

  2. Making Sense of..., a collective sensemaking space that examines ongoing political developments through a bridging and belonging lens, such as the intersection of tech oligarchy, masculinity, and authoritarian populism

  3. Processing Politics, a monthly space to hold joy and build emotional resilience amid political despair

  4. Brewed Connections, a purely social space facilitating informal exchange among network members.

Equity Metrics

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• Coordinated hosting an in-person meeting between OBI and Yogendra Yadav, a politician, social activist and a psephologist from India and his wife, Madhulika Banerjee, professor of Political Science at Delhi University, India

Network for Transformative Change

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• The Network for Transformative Change published a report on the pilot phase of its Bridging for Democracy (B4D) project, illustrating how B4D partners are innovating how the civic engagement field can support democracy, with a focus on learning to listen across big divides, overcoming misperceptions, and rebuilding the social fabric of the country. Alongside partners, we presented on B4D at the NetRoots Nation 2025 Conference. 

• B4D expanded from its initial work in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, and Nevada into California. Our project partners at the Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO) joined B4D with a door-to-door long-bridging canvass program in Anaheim Hills, where the team knocked 2,724 doors. As part of the program, B4D conducted a new experiment integrating digital outreach featuring the Mayor of Anaheim, and presented our work at the 2025 Orange County Grantmakers Summit. Read more in the "Building Bridges and Climbing Hills in the OC" report.

• Valiente es Dialogar (VED) and OBI began a structured and iterative process of exchange, translation, and mutual learning to produce lessons around VED’s practices and OBI frameworks that are useful to depolarization practitioners broadly, in and beyond Colombia and the U.S. 

Places of Belonging 

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• Advanced a Statewide Initiative for Belonging, known as “The Belonging Table” in Washington state. 

Amplifying Community Voices

• As part of our on-going effort to demonstrate the possibility and proof of belonging, we gathered a number of impact stories from our community. See stories below attesting to the work of bridging and belonging:

  • Bridging in the biosciences by building a better environment, a story about how OBI’s Campus Bridging Project creates spaces where students, faculty, and staff can share stories, confront divides, and build interdisciplinary and inclusive communities

  • How Targeted Universalism Is Bringing Equity to Chicago's Public Schools, an essay from Chicago Public Schools former equity chief Maurice Swinney explaining the transformative power of TU and the importance of listening to our young people

  • What belonging looks like in data, reflections from urban planner Fatima Elkott on the North American Equity Data convening organized by OBI’s Equity Metrics

  • How libraries can serve as places of belonging, an interview with author and public spaces advocate Shamichael Hallman about how OBI gave him the language, frameworks to create spaces of belonging

  • Renewing my commitment to the power of connection, testimonials from 2025 summer fellows sharing their experiences working with the institute and how it has changed how they view the future

Arts, Culture, and Radical Imagination

• What does it take to create a world where everyone belongs? OBI believes that Radical Imagination—rooted in arts and cultural strategy—can help us achieve this vision. Through participatory research and programs, OBI’s Arts & Cultural Strategy team is exploring Radical Imagination as a tool for building structures of belonging. Over the next few years, we will collaborate with artists, cultural workers, and community members to harness imagination for transformation. Efforts in 2025 included:

  • Drawn Together: Afrofuturism: In celebration of Juneteenth, OBI is collaborated with SFMOMA for Drawn Together, a powerful evening of Afrofuturist storytelling, movement, and dialogue featuring amara tabor-smith, Tanisha Hill-Jarrett, richie reseda, and Sarah Crowell.

  • Community Conversations at OMCA: Reclaiming Democracy, Building Belonging with john powell, Ernestine Nettles, Olivia Richardson Feldman, and Ashley Gallegos. Representative Barbara Lee provided opening remarks and the Belonging Resident Company opened the show with performances. 

  • Popular Culture & Belonging Blog: A dive into how belonging shows up in pop culture—starting with our piece on Wicked.

Community Power and Policy 

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• Hosted the Real Solutions podcast series, which was co-sponsored by 10 community, labor, and nonprofit media partners, and engaged over 3,000 listeners across the US and 30 countries in conversations about building a cross-issue policy agenda for belonging for all.

Digital Engagement

• Reached 1 million website visits, with nearly half (44%) arriving through organic search results.
• Maintain an email subscriber list of over 87k people
• Reached 800k people on social media, and grew our follower count to over 70k.

Faculty Clusters

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• The Faculty Cluster Initiative organized several book launch events in 2025.
  • Margaret Price discussed her book Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life with Disability Studies cluster chair Karen Nakamura. 
  • Dianne Tober presented her book Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors who Supply Them and then spoke with Health Disparities cluster chair Osagie Obasogie.
  • Anand Pandian discussed his book Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and how to Take them Down at the Geography Colloquium.
  • Bernadette Atuahene shared her research on exploitative housing policies via her book Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.
  • Jason Corburn and DeVone Boggan wrote about their work disrupting violence among youth in their book Advancing Peace: Ending Urban Gun Violence Through the Power of Redemptive Love. 
  • Tourmaline spoke about her new book Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P Johnson and engaged in discussion with Angela Davis, and LGTBQ Citizenship cluster chair Eric Stanley.
     
  

  

  
   
  

  

  

• Lastly, the cluster was honored to have Dr. Feroze Sidhwa speak on his experiences working in hospitals in Gaza during the event "What I Saw in Gaza: A Surgeon's Account."

Meeting the Moment

• Responding to these uncertain times, we launched several initiatives to help our communities make sense of the moment:

  • "Fighting Forward" essay series authored by director john powell addressed the ongoing assaults on our democracy and communities, and illuminating how we may respond to and confront them. A livestream conversation and Q&A with powell and Jose Richard Aviles accompanied the launch of the essay series.

  • The "An Uncertain Time" community forum explored questions of meaning-making in the turbulent global climate, building an economy that fosters wellbeing for all, and forging paths toward belonging without othering. The conversation included Ashlin Malouf, Rachel Godsil, Eli Moore, Miriam Juan-Torres, and john powell. 

Network for Transformative Change

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• Piloted the Unconditional Belonging (UB) narrative framework, which was co-created with core partners in Orange County. UB was presented and workshopped through webinars and in-person events spanning community organizing, direct service, and government sectors. The UB narrative guide, toolkit, explainer video, and curriculum are forthcoming in 2026. 

OBI University

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• Our online learning platform, OBI University, grew significantly in 2025! We welcomed nearly three thousand new learners this year, in no small part thanks to the launch of our new course series on Targeted Universalism guided by Ashlin Malouf. These courses were developed directly in response to calls from practitioners for guidance and tools for applying T.U. to their work. As such, this four-part series walks students through the five stages of the framework, illuminating the path with lessons from real-life case studies drawn from public schools, small nonprofits, large philanthropic organizations, businesses, and government offices. A brand-new animated explainer and live Q&A launch event accompanied the launch of the courses.

Places of Belonging 

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• Developed a number of resources to support continued learning and adoption of belonging without othering and the practice of bridging. These include the Power of Bridging Workbook, the Visualizing Belonging without Othering infographic, and A Resource Guide for Belonging-Builders

Illustration by Wenjia Tang. Click here to download the full-size illustration.