Skip to main content
Home
Othering & Belonging Institute

Main menu

  • About

    About OBI

    • Our Story
    • Our Impact
    • Work With Us
    • Contact Us
    • Location
    • Media
    • Merch Store
    FEATURE
    The Vision of the Othering & Belonging Institute

    The Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley brings together researchers, organizers, stakeholders, communicators, and policymakers to identify and eliminate the barriers to an inclusive, just, and sustainable society in order to create transformative change.

    Denise Herd speaks at conference event
  • Areas of Work

    Topic

    • Arts & Cultural Strategy
    • Bridging & Belonging
    • Climate Justice
    • Democracy
    • Disability
    • Economic Inequality
    • Food Systems
    • Health
    • Housing
    • Islamophobia
    • LGBTQ
    • Narrative Power
    • Policing
    • Race
    • Targeted Universalism
    • Explore More...

    Program

    • Community Power and Policy Partnerships
    • Equity Metrics
    • Global Justice
    • Just Public Finance
    • Network for Transformative Change
    • O&B Conference
    • Democracy & Belonging Forum
    • Faculty Clusters
    • Topic
    • Program
  • People

    THE PEOPLE OF OBI

    • Director john a. powell
    • Find an Expert
    • Staff
    • Summer Fellowship
    FEATURE
    Meet the Institute’s Director

    john a. powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, structural racism, housing, poverty, and democracy.

    john powell is seen from the side and his head turned at 3/4 profile toward the camera smiling. He wears a black suit with white pinstripes.
  • Resources

    News & Resources

    • Publications
    • Podcasts
    • Blog
    • Newsletters
    • Interviews
    • Presentations
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • Events
    • Curricula
    FEATURE
    Podcast: Who Belongs?

    Launched in Fall 2018 as the Institute's official podcast, Who Belongs? is an ongoing series that demonstrates our commitment to public dialogue.

    Elsadig, a Sudanese man, speaks during a podcast recording session.
  • Events
  • Email Sign Up
Search
Search

Nav Donate

  • Donate
A social justice mural in at Highland Park High School in Illinois; the mural evokes stained glass art of Frank Lloyd Wright

Civic Engagement Narrative Change

About the Project

Credit: Nancy PochisCivic Engagement Narrative Change was launched in March 2018, with the goal of addressing the most pressing obstacles to inclusive democratic participation by integrating rigorous research, scientific testing, narrative...
voters rising up report cover image
  • Publication
  • April 19, 2021

Voters Rising Up

This report reviews the central work of the newly founded Rise Up for Justice Narrative Hub. The Hub brought together researchers, strategists, creatives, and digital communication specialists to support the civic participation of underrepresented groups and engage some of the leading Black- and Latinx-led power building organizations across the country.
From Estrangement to Engagement Bridging to the Ballot Box
  • Publication
  • September 8, 2020

From Estrangement to Engagement: Bridging to the Ballot Box

This brief summarizes key insights and applications from research on strategy for expanding the electorate and fostering bridging across lines of difference for greater civic belonging.
Illustration showing Megaphone
  • Video
  • July 20, 2020

Video: We the people, not we the corporations

This animated short exposes how the unmitigated power of US corporations is bolstered by divide and conquer tactics wielded to distract from the harm these companies do to society and the environment—and generate enormous profits for the wealthy few...
Image grab from video showing Tucker Carlson interview Dan Patrick on Fox News
  • Video
  • August 5, 2020

(Ill)Logic: Rethinking the Covid-19 Story (Video Series)

Introducing our new video series: (Ill)Logic: Rethinking the Covid-19 Story. Few things have illuminated the interconnected nature of our world as acutely as the Covid-19 crisis. The virus has not only triggered an urgent medical crisis, but also...

Baseline Surveys

Credit: Joe LukhoviThe work of developing effective alternative narratives of “we” must be built on strong empirical analysis of how communities understand themselves and one another in the present. To advance that effort, in October and November...
  • Video

Civic Engagement Videos

These videos, produced by the Othering & Belonging Institute and its partner organizations, were designed to encourage civic engagement and voting. Their aim is to project a more inclusive “We” and to reach disaffected nonvoters and infrequent voters...
illustration of three raised fists
  • Publication
  • September 24, 2019

Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?

The term “identity politics” was first coined by Black feminist Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective in 1974. Identity politics originated from the need to reshape movements that had until then prioritized the monotony of sameness over the...
An image of a mural on the side of a building showing David and Goliath
  • Publication
  • September 9, 2019

Ending Electoral Sharecropping

In his historic 1984 speech at Tindley Temple Church in Philadelphia, Rev. Jesse Jackson declared, “Our defeats are characterized by the margin of despair and the fracture of our coalitions.” In an effort to explain both the challenge and a way...
Make the Road Nevada staff members pose for a photo holding a banner in spanish
  • Publication
  • April 29, 2019

Trusting the Leadership and Power of Latinx Communities

In November 2017, Make the Road Nevada (MRNV) launched its operations in the state by leading a mile-long march through the neighborhoods of East Las Vegas. The March started around Desert Pines High School, in some of the densest Latinx...
Blueprint NC logo
  • Publication
  • April 15, 2019

Racial Equity in Service to Collective Impact and Movement Building

In 2006, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a Winston-Salem based philanthropic organization, called on several civic engagement and advocacy groups to have facilitated dialogues about progressive reform strategy. Initially referred to as the “Aqueduct...
illustration showing a hand holding a money sign
  • Publication
  • March 6, 2019

When Boom Goes Bust

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) is a permanent, statewide progressive coalition founded in 1994 by 12 member groups including the Nevada AFL-CIO, Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, Nevada Women’s Lobby, and the Sierra Club. The...
Haitian women holding signs that read "little haiti is not for sale!"
  • Publication
  • March 6, 2019

Little Haiti is Fighting Climate Change

When most people in Florida close their eyes and think of the places most affected by climate change, overwhelmingly, the image drawn in their mind’s eye is one of a beach. One can hardly expect otherwise given the treatment mass media gives the...

Podcast

Civic Engagement Narrative Change is partnering with the Othering & Belonging Institute’s podcast show, Who Belongs?, to develop a series of shows that feature interviews with leading thinkers, activists, and organizers involved in civic engagement...

Tools and Resources

The Othering & Belonging Institute and its partner organizations have produced videos, curricula, and trainings that explain and demonstrate the key concepts of the analysis around othering and belonging, bridging and breaking, strategic narrative...

Sidebar Navigation

  • Network for Transformative Change
    • Technology & Belonging
      • About Tech & Belonging
    • Civic Engagement Narrative Change
      • Commissioned Papers
        • Introduction: Building Power, Building Belonging
        • Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?
        • Racial Equity in Service to Collective Impact and Movement Building
        • Trusting the Leadership and Power of Latinx Communities
        • When Boom Goes Bust
        • Ending Electoral Sharecropping
        • Little Haiti is Fighting Climate Change
      • Tools and Resources
      • Baseline Surveys
      • About
      • Podcast
    • Blueprint for Belonging
      • About Blueprint for Belonging
      • Audio: The Battle of the Narratives
      • Blueprint for Belonging Videos
      • Blueprint for Belonging Papers
      • Inland Empire Paper Series
      • California Survey on Othering and Belonging
      • Redefining Who Belongs
      • Curriculum
    • Bridging and Breaking
    • Bridging to Belonging Case Series

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Impact
  • Work With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Location
  • Media
  • Merch Store

People

  • Director john a. powell
  • Find an Expert
  • Staff
  • Summer Fellowship

Topic

  • Arts & Cultural Strategy
  • Bridging & Belonging
  • Climate Justice
  • Democracy
  • Disability
  • Economic Inequality
  • Food Systems
  • Health
  • Housing
  • Islamophobia
  • LGBTQ
  • Narrative Power
  • Policing
  • Race
  • Targeted Universalism
  • Explore More...

Program

  • Community Power and Policy Partnerships
  • Equity Metrics
  • Global Justice
  • Just Public Finance
  • Network for Transformative Change
  • O&B Conference
  • Democracy & Belonging Forum
  • Faculty Clusters

Resources

  • Publications
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Newsletters
  • Interviews
  • Presentations
  • Press Releases
  • Videos
  • Events
  • Curricula

University of California, Berkeley

460 Stephens Hall

Berkeley, CA 94720 MC 2330

510-642-3326 • belonging@berkeley.edu

Note: Most of our team is still working virtually and are not in the office to receive phone calls. However, we check voicemails daily and will forward your contact information to the most relevant staff member to follow up.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Soundcloud
  • Pinterest
UCB logo Make a Donation
© 2022 Othering and Belonging Institute. All rights reserved.
Image
OBI staff smiling, laughing, and posing in silly ways
Image
OBI staff smiling, laughing, and posing in silly ways