Zoning Reform Tracker

The Othering & Belonging Institute is proud to launch the Zoning Reform Tracker, which is meant to serve as a hub for documenting zoning reform efforts across the United States. There are two components to the Zoning Reform Tracker: a sortable database, and an interactive webmap.

The History of Corporate Power

This article is derived from, but not a synopsis of, "Beyond Public/Private: Understanding Excessive Corporate Prerogative" by john a. powell and Stephen Menendian, which makes the case that corporations have overstepped their appropriate role in...

Single-Family Zoning in the San Diego Region

IntroductionThe authors would like to thank Joshua Cantong, Data Analyst at the Othering and Belonging Institute for their valuable insights and contributions. This brief report continues our series investigating the extent of restrictive and...

Community Land Trusts as Stewards of Public Land

California’s affordability crisis has reached every corner of the state, and local governments are examining their assets to find ways to support the preservation and development of affordable housing. This guide documents how local governments can...

Taking Stock: Visioning Beyond the Refinery

Richmond, CA has been called a "refinery town" because of the widely-felt presence of Chevron's oil refinery in the city. But what is the actual web of relationships between the oil refinery and the Richmond community?

Affordable Housing as Local Reparations for Black Americans: Case Studies

This case study report seeks to illuminate the activism, parameters, and intended outcomes of city programs for property redress as a form of reparations.

California Zoning Atlas

The California Zoning Atlas is an ongoing project to produce zoning maps and analyses for every region and municipality in the state of California. The goals of this project are, firstly, to document with greater precision than before, and raise...

The Pervasiveness of Islamophobia in the United States

This report was submitted in July 2022 to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in review of the US government’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Othering and Belonging in a Europe in crisis

In the age of the politics of emotions, the feeling of belonging has a lot to do with individual experiences. Confidence in the future, or the perception of lack of opportunities, can be a determining factor in a citizen’s relationship with their community...

Single-Family Zoning in the Sacramento Region

Introduction The authors would like to thank Othering and Belonging Institute graduate student researcher Shahan Shahid Nawaz for his invaluable assistance in helping build the repository of municipal maps that made this analysis possible as well as...

Cash for Californians

Introduction To meaningfully advance economic justice, we must enhance existing government systems and create new supports targeted to residents most impacted by inequality. In 2019, more than one in three California residents was considered poor or...

Engineering For Perfection

Download a PDF of this report. CRISPR and other methods of gene editing have captured the public imagination, spurring countless lectures, articles, and think pieces about how this technology can shape humanity. Many of these conversations are...

The ‘polarisation’ distraction

However difficult it is to properly gauge the significance of historical events while still living through them, we can surely already state with confidence that the Covid pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine together constitute a truly seismic and transformative sequence of years for the world.

Aligning Federal Policy to Local Needs

We are pleased to release results from our Spring 2022 survey on long-term policy priorities at the federal level. Our team conducted landscape research of major policy platforms and visions to identify 100+ cross-cutting federal policies in five areas tied to crisis resilience.

Overcoming Toxic Polarization

This law review article published in the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality, authored by OBI Director john a. powell, explores the nature of the problem of toxic polarization and what we must do about it. It argues that bridging is necessary but...

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Black Lives Matter, A Year After Ferguson (featuring john a. powell)

Director john a. powell is featured in this video produced by AJ+ one year after Michael Brown's killing in Ferguson, Missouri.
Apr
25

Why We Need to Build and Bridge

A talk by Eboo Patel, followed by discussion with john a. powell and Allison Briscoe-Smith. Free event but registration is required.

Animated Explainer Video Series

Our animated explainer videos break down some of the key principles that guide our work at the Othering & Belonging Institute. Follow the links below to view the videos, to read transcripts of the audio, and to learn more about each concept.