Featured Work

Targeted Universalism Explained

Watch the explainer video and enroll in the free course now! Targeted Universalism is a framework that goes beyond inclusion in existing structures that serve only some of us. Instead, it invites everyone to roll up their sleeves and co-create new structures designed to serve all of us.

Greater Social Equity in Brownfields Cleanup and Reuse

How can the contaminated lands that dot urban neighborhoods and rural lands across the country and the world, often for years or decades, be cleaned up and put to reuse in ways that ensure environmental health, social equity, and thriving local...

Impact Story: How libraries can serve as places of belonging

The calluses and scars on Shamichael Hallman’s hands serve as lasting reminders of the frigid Alabama winters he spent as a 20-year-old logger, cutting and bundling 20-foot cedar logs in a Birmingham lumber yard—timber destined to build homes. “I’d...

Meaningful Measurements of Mobility

Contents Introduction Operationalizing Equity in Transportation Planning Research Process and Methods Inventory of Transportation Equity Metrics Critical Discussion of Metrics Conclusions and Recommendations Endnotes Introduction What data should be...

FAQ: Racial Equity Legal Guidance

This FAQ is was created to accompany our more robust legal guidance document, Advancing Racial Equity: Legal Guidance for Advocates. Is consideration of race in public policymaking or public programs illegal or unconstitutional? As a follow up then...

Fear, Grievance, and the Other

The goal of this paper is to provide a primer on key concepts that help us understand the rise, strategies, and tactics of exclusionary, nativist, and populist movements today, and to advance the framework of authoritarian populism as an analytical tool that informs practical efforts to combat these movements, address structural marginality, and advance democracies rooted in belonging.

Blog: Getting Free From Corporate Political Domination

The Democrats’ historic loss of working class voters across race and gender lines has led to some debate and hopefully soul-searching about how the party can win back the support of working class voters, and what has prevented the party from an...
Dec
10

The Power of Bridging, with john a. powell & Jon Kabat-Zinn

On Tuesday, December 10, at 5pm PT / 8pm ET, OBI Director john a. powell will be joined on Sounds True One with mindfulness teacher and author Jon Kabat-Zinn for a conversation on powell's new book, The Power of Bridging...

Living into the Future

In response to constant, increasing threats of housing insecurity and displacement, marginalized communities in California have long fought for the ability to stay rooted in, and collectively shape the future of, the places they call home. Their...

Areas of Work

The faculty, staff, researchers, and affiliates of the Othering & Belonging Institute work together with multidisciplinary approaches to learn, research, and construct solutions for society's most pressing issues. Our programs and initiatives are all designed to effect transformative change.

SEE ALL AREAS

Areas of Work

The faculty, staff, researchers, and affiliates of the Othering & Belonging Institute work together with multidisciplinary approaches to learn, research, and construct solutions for society's most pressing issues. Our programs and initiatives are all designed to effect transformative change.

SEE ALL AREAS

Featured Publications

In the Media

NYT: Why ‘Affordable Housing’ in New York City Can Still Cost $3,500 a Month

The New York Times cites our national segregation research in a November 19 article, titled, " Why ‘Affordable Housing’ in New York City Can Still Cost $3,500 a Month." The article reads: "Some of the most popular neighborhoods are affordable to only...

john a. powell talks to Star Tribune, KQED about new book on bridging

The Minnesota Star Tribune earlier this month published an interview with OBI Director john a. powell about his new book, The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong. “What bridging says is, ‘Let’s take the time to be curious...

Berkeley News: Bridging divides: from anger and mistrust to belonging — and hope

In this Berkeley News story, Othering and Belonging Institute director john a. powell and OBI Campus Bridging Project leader Julia Mckeown share expertise and perspective around ways to bridge at UC Berkeley during a polarizing time.