The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ) is composed of over 35 organizations that serve immigrant communities in the Inland Empire of Southern California. The Inland Empire region includes the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. Geographically, the region...

True North Organizing Network is a group engaged in community organizing in California’s “Far North,” especially the counties of Humboldt and Del Norte, and on Tribal lands. This region of California is often left “off of the map”...

Contemporary debates often treat belonging as a fragile or novel aspiration—something that must be newly invented or defended against the complexities of modernity. Yet many of the norms, institutions, and moral commitments that structure modern societies already contain seeds of belonging. These seeds reflect moments—often partial, contested, and inconsistently realized—where societies have acknowledged the inherent dignity, humanity, and equal worth of all people.

The MAGA agenda has expanded under two Trump administrations, fraying the moral and social ties that are foundational to fostering connections and organizing toward progress. Communities are increasingly fractured by economic stress, political anger, and a media ecosystem that reinforces biases rather than seeking shared truths.

OCCCO, the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, has a vision for Orange County, California: to be a place where all people live with dignity and thrive. Their campaign, Anaheim is Our Home, is an invitation for the city of Anaheim to be...

This white paper documents how local and regional organizations are confronting these challenges and shaping pathways toward just transitions that are not only low-carbon but also equitable, locally grounded, and reparative. Conducted by the Global Justice Program (GJP) at the Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley...

This graphic illustration serves as a meaning-making tool, outlining the foundational components of building for belonging and the practices that enable it within projects and places. Illustration by Wenjia Tang. Click here to download the full-size...

Note: This is our 2025 update to the our report published in 2021. Click here to view the original. -- The Othering and Belonging Institute is pleased to unveil a major update and extensive addition to our “Roots of Structural Racism” project...

Introduction The authors have many people to thank, beginning with Arthur Gailes, Phuong Tseng, Chih-Wei Hsu, Joseph Ahrenholtz, Ipso Cantong, Peter Matingly, Karina French, Abby Steckel, Zoya Gheisar, Varun Fuloria and Shahan Shahid Nawaz. Racial...

Introduction Segregation is a complicated, nuanced concept, and one that has eluded simple definition and universal measure despite decades of intellectual effort. Some scholars believe that segregation is really a composite of five concepts, while...

Join us in learning from UC Berkeley’s graduate students in two new policy memos on housing policy for belonging, adapted from their much longer student projects! These memos offer lessons for advocates, funders, legislators, and other change-makers...

This memo is a part of the Community Power & Policy Partnership’s Housing Policy for Belonging, a project aimed at uplifting the great student work happening across UC Berkeley’s campus. We are so grateful to these authors for wrestling their 40 page...

This memo is a part of the Community Power & Policy Partnership’s Housing Policy for Belonging, a project aimed at uplifting the great student work happening across UC Berkeley’s campus. We are so grateful to these authors for wrestling their 40 page...

A Six-Strategy Framework Examining How Political and Cultural Leaders Weaponize Gender in Ways that Advance Authoritarianism.

Around the world, people are seeking effective ways to build just, equitable, and inclusive institutions that can serve everyone without fueling fragmentation, division, and fear. At the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI), we’ve answered this call...