Lemon Grove zoning map
  • Press Release
  • December 19, 2022

Three-quarters of San Diego region zoned for single-family housing

Just over three-quarters (75.66 percent) of residential land in southern California's San Diego region is reserved for single-family housing, according to a study released Monday by UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI).
San Diego County map
  • Publication
  • December 19, 2022

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...
White House lit up with rainbow lights
  • Press Release
  • December 9, 2022

Respect for Marriage Act represents historic victory for civil rights

The recent passage by the US Congress of the The Respect for Marriage Act, which enshrines into law the rights of LGBTQ and interracial couples to marry, represents a historic milestone in the ongoing fight for civil rights in this country. It of...
San Jose siting map
  • Press Release
  • December 7, 2022

San José Directs Affordable Housing Programs to Address Segregation and Unequal Access to High Opportunity Areas

On December 6th, the City Council of San José, CA, adopted a policy to address persistent patterns of segregation and unequal access to neighborhoods where residents experience better life outcomes. The new policy will place more affordable housing...
Illustration of hands
  • Blog
  • November 16, 2022

Connecting the Local and the Global

Where I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, much of our drinking water comes from the Chattahoochee River. The river, whose name comes from the Creek/Muscogee words chato ("rock") and huchi ("painted"), marks the current Alabama-Georgia border and the...
Presentation slide cover
  • Presentations
  • November 14, 2022

Racial Residential Segregation and Housing Opportunity

On November 14, 2022, OBI's Stephen Menendian and Samir Gambhir presented at the Connecticut Affordable Housing Conference on their interactive segregation mapping tool, fair housing, affordable housing, and much more.
Mini graphics illustrating the 13 crises described in the essay
  • Blog
  • November 30, 2022

Deconstructing the 'Housing Crisis'

For a several years now I’ve observed with growing alarm, then despair, as California’s housing woes—astronomical prices, skyrocketing rents and rates of annual appreciation, knee-jerk opposition to new housing, an epidemic of displacement and...
Image grab from presentation
  • Video
  • October 20, 2022

A Discussion on the Inflation Reduction Act and Climate Justice

On Oct. 20 we hosted our first event as part of our new Climate Justice Series looking at solutions to the climate crisis and its impacts on communities around the world. In this event, we heard from a panel of experts who drilled down (no pun...
Illustration of many people tending to a flower
  • News
  • October 17, 2022

Creating art for belonging

The Democracy & Belonging Forum, an initiative from the Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) at the University of California, Berkeley, teamed up with Fine Acts to produce a collection of powerful visual artworks on the topic of Bridging &...
Image grab from livestream shows four speakers
  • Video
  • October 13, 2022

Video: 2022 Inclusiveness Index Launch

On Thursday, Oct. 13 we held this virtual event to announce the results of our 2022 Inclusiveness Index and provide a demonstration of our new interactive data table.
Inclusiveness Index world map
  • Press Release
  • October 13, 2022

Hawaii again leads as most inclusive state; New Zealand tops global rankings

For immediate release BERKELEY: Hawaii ranked as the most inclusive state in the country for the fifth straight year, according to the latest study from UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute released Thursday, followed by Nevada and Maryland...
Democracy and Identity event image grab
  • Video
  • September 29, 2022

Video: Identity and Activism in Diverse Democracies

On Sept. 29, OBI's Democracy and Belonging Forum hosted this conversation between Yascha Mounk, a writer and academic known for his work on the crisis of multiracial democracy, and with Uma Mishra-Newbery, a global social justice and women's rights...
Rising Up For Reparations panel
  • Video
  • September 29, 2022

Video: Rising Up For Reparations

On Thursday, Sept. 29 we hosted a conversation on the promise and practice of reparations being undertaken for Black Americans. Speakers included Trevor Smith, the Director of Narrative Change at Liberation Ventures; Donald K. Tamaki, an appointed...
CLT housing in Lake Tahoe
  • Publication
  • September 16, 2022

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...
Visionary Frameworks promo card
  • Video
  • September 7, 2022

Visionary Frameworks Webinar Series

Over 2022 we hosted a five-part webinar series called "Visionary Frameworks" in which we learned together from organizers, artists and researchers who are putting visionary frameworks for change into action. Below you'll find some recordings of those...

Explore Othering and Belonging

Image grab from video shows john a powell
  • Video
  • August 7, 2015

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.
Event series flier
Mar
14
  • March 14, 2023, - March 17, 2023

Karen Tei Yamashita Event Series

Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of seven books, including I Hotel, finalist for the National Book Award, and most recently, Sansei and Sensibility. Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature and a U.S. Artists’ Ford Foundation Fellowship, she is professor emerita of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
An illustrated laptop depicts floating shapes and images
  • Video
  • August 12, 2021

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.