Featured Work

African Just Transitions

In our research for this paper, we focus on how African climate, agri-food, and environmental organizations are combating the drivers of the climate crisis, managing the impacts of the climate crisis, and forging strategies to build climate resilience.

john a. powell at Bioneers: 'We need a more complex story'

In an April 8 keynote at the Bioneers conference in Berkeley, OBI Director john a. powell spoke about the importance of recognizing our interconnected relationship to both nature, and fellow humans. Against the separations that society has...

Equity vs. Equality: What's the Difference?

There is a clip of US Senator Bernie Sanders making the rounds from a recent episode of Bill Maher’s HBO program, in which the host asked Senator Sanders to distinguish “equality” from “equity.” Senator Sanders explained that “equality” refers to...

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.

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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

Bloomberg News: Biden Administration Adopts Targeted Universalism in Homelessness Plan

The Biden administration has adopted a philosophy known as targeted universalism, a concept that originated at the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. A 2019 primer by Stephen Menendian, Wendy Ake and Haas Institute director john a. powell...

New York Times: This Group Has $100 Million and a Big Goal... To Fix America

This past summer, they brought together a group of grantees for a retreat in Atlanta in an attempt to foster relationships among them. They included the civil rights thinker john powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute and Rachel Peric of...

The New York Review: A Housing Crisis in Paradise

California is embarking on this somewhat unorthodox arrangement because it is mired in a historic housing crisis. That statement is so obvious and widely repeated that it can sound trite—and yet it still somehow understates the gravity of the problem...