The Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) invites you to join the Belonging Practice Community, a dedicated space for institutional practitioners to move our foundational frameworks into action. This cohort-based program helps participants deepen their understanding of belonging, othering, bridging, and targeted universalism (TU).
Through monthly virtual sessions, participants will deepen their understanding of the frameworks, build relationships with belonging builders across North America and Europe, address common challenges, and strengthen their implementation of these critical frameworks within their organizations. The program will run from August 2026 through February 2027, with registration applications due by June 15, 2026.
We designed this experience to help you:
- Deepen your understanding of OBI frameworks
- Build confidence in applying these strategies across varied contexts
- Connect with a cross-sector network of belonging practitioners
- Address implementation challenges through active engagement
- Skillfully build somatics and movement into belonging efforts
Who should attend:
We welcome leaders and practitioners from health, education, government, nonprofits, and philanthropies who advance work related to belonging and bridging. This program is for you if you are responsible for your organization's culture or belonging strategies, and/or are inspired to shape how institutions and groups build for belonging. We ask that participants remain open to co-learning, reflection, and practice within a community setting.
Meet the facilitators:
Ashley Gallegos
Director of the Places of Belonging Program at the Othering and Belonging Institute
Sarah Crowell
Belonging and Community Builder at the Othering & Belonging Institute
Evan Yoshimoto
Head of Community at the Democracy & Belonging Forum
Session logistics:
- Each session is 3 hours long, with the majority held virtually
- All sessions will be held from 8 am - 12 pm PT / 11 am - 2 pm ET / 5 pm - 8 pm CET
- There will be one session that is offered both in person and virtually that aligns with the O&B Conference in Louisville, KY, in October 2026
- The teachings from each session will be available on the course webpage, but discussion and practice will not be recorded
- We strongly encourage participants to plan on attending all the sessions, as no make-ups will be offered
Session dates and topics:
- Aug. 11, 2026: Welcome, setting the group container, and introducing Belonging without Othering
- Sept. 8, 2026: Expanding understanding of Othering and the impacts of authoritarian populism so that we can recognize it and build more towards belonging
- Oct. 8, 2026: Deepening into Bridging, and how we become bridgers (Virtual and in-person Louisville, KY)
- Dec. 1, 2026: Bridging towards Belonging. How bridging can be implemented within our work and lives
- Jan. 12, 2027: Introduction to Targeted Universalism (TU) and how it helps us build for belonging
- Feb. 9, 2027: Advance understanding of and ability to implement Targeted Universalism
- Feb. 23, 2027: Closing celebration. We reflect on our journey, acknowledge key insights, and celebrate our growth together
Engagement Details:
The Belonging Practice Community is for people with aligned interests and a willingness to engage both during sessions and virtually in between. We have designed a virtual program website that will make all course content available, along with a discussion board for community members to actively engage with one another. While the sessions themselves are powerful and important, taking time to build and strengthen relationships between sessions is equally important and requested.
Meet the teachers:
john powell
Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute
Ashlin Malouf
Deputy Director of Strategy and Program at the Othering and Belonging Institute
Cecilie Surasky
Partnerships at the Othering and Belonging Institute
Míriam Juan-Torres González
Co-Director of Research at OBI, and Head of Research at the Democracy & Belonging Forum
Fees:
The registration fees were designed to make the program as accessible as possible to a wide range of participants. Please review the registration levels to find the tier that best aligns with you.
- Pay it forward: The rate for organizations with an operating budget of over $10M or those who wish to cover some of the fee for others: $3,500
- Standard Admission: $2,000 per participant
- Group Rate: We would be delighted to have many members from a team join. If your organization sends 3 or more people, the fee is reduced to $1,500 per person.
- Scholarships: If neither fee fits your needs, we will have 10 scholarships available. We will follow up with applicants individually after submission of the registration form.
If any of these fees are burdensome to your organization, please note that on your registration application under the question about registration tiers and we will contact you to discuss.
Please note that conference registration and the Belonging Practice Community are separate registration processes. If you plan to join us in person for the 10/8 session, you are welcome to do so. If you intend to join the conference, you must register on the conference website and are invited to choose the reduced fee Co-Creator rate of $600.
Registration:
- Registration is open from May 18 to June 15
- To register: please indicate interest by filling out and submitting this form by June 15, 2026
- All applicants will be notified of admission by June 30
Payment:
- Once participants are admitted, the registration link will be shared
- All registration payments must be initiated by July 13 to retain admission
- Credit card payments preferred. If not possible, invoices will be shared
Should you have additional questions, please reach out to us at: charlotte.okeefe@berkeley.edu and ashgallegos@berkeley.edu.
