All Resources

Consistent with our mission and values, as a multi-disciplinary research center that seeks to advance a world of belonging without othering, the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) conducts research, develops narrative strategy, and supports...

Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, on bridging tensions in Chicago and why democracy depends on it.

We currently live in a world that is rapidly changing. And depending on where you stand, many would say it is for the worse. Long before the recent attacks on Iran, the prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, made the observation at Davos in mid...

This essay by Irene Kao is the first in a series of papers and conversations from Blueprint for Belonging, "New Organizing Strategies for California’s Future." 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...

At a first glance, the European Union – and the European identity centred on it – might seem like a good example of what belonging without othering might look like. This is certainly how the EU would like to imagine itself. As the European Commission...

Make the Road Nevada Deputy Director Blanca Macias: “People often ask why bridging matters in a time of deep division. My answer is simple: because democracy will collapse if we only talk to “our people.”

I was walking around Barcelona when Melania Trump’s gaze suddenly greeted me on the side of a bus shelter. Disoriented by the sight of the US first lady in the heart of Catalonia, I moved closer and realized it was an ad for her documentary. I had...

Orange County organizer Blandy Morales traces her journey from fighting for community space as a child in Fullerton to building bridges and cultivating belonging in the same neighborhood today.

BERKELEY, CA: Hispanic Americans have made significant progress in recent decades in the areas of median home value, wealth accumulation, and employment when compared to their white counterparts, according to new research released Tuesday by Othering...

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...

Othering and Belonging Institute’s Bridging for Democracy project, a coalition of grassroots organizations across the country, started listening to people. What they are finding is an antidote to authoritarianism.

Othering and Belonging Institute Director john a. powell reflects on the killings by ICE agents in Minneapolis: “When we accept othering as a justification for violence, we normalize a system where belonging becomes conditional — and no one is truly safe. Humanity struggles to survive in such an environment. Democracy cannot.”

In Minnesota, in the face of fear and violence, we see courage and connection. Where systems and politicians seek to divide, there are networks of support. Where terror attempts to isolate, a powerful multiracial movement of neighbors have responded...

As we welcome back the return of the light and a new year, it is a time to reflect, to celebrate, to mourn, to plan and to take stock. For me, 2025 brought many wonderful gifts and also many challenges. These gifts and challenges were — and are —...