What is Targeted Universalism? Our new visual explainer breaks it down
We're excited to announce that we've just published a fresh new visual explainer video that delves into one of OBI's key frameworks, called Targeted Universalism (TU). In a nutshell, TU is a policy approach to make sure people from all groups achieve a universal goal, but uses targeted strategies designed to help different groups reach that goal based on their circumstances. The new explainer video looks into the benefits, strengths, and stages of the framework, and expands on our animated explainer from 2017 (updated in 2019 after our name changed). Here's some TU resources you should check out:
- Firstly, see the new TU explainer video here
Join OBI University, our free online learning platform, and take the new 4-part course series on TU, with Part 1, "What is Targeted Universalism?", having just been released (more on this below) -
Watch our livestream celebrating the video & course launch featuring Director john a. powell, Assistant Director Stephen Menendian, and Deputy Director Ashlin Malouf-Gashaw
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And finally check out our TU landing page where you can find our 2019 Primer, and many other resources, including case studies, on the framework
The four-part course series on TU we're introducing exclusively at OBI University will walk students through the framework's five stages. The first part which we've just published gives a top-level look into the framework and highlights examples from the field, while the remaining installments will follow over the next month and will go deeper into the stages. We hope you enroll!
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Report: Greater Social Equity in Brownfields Cleanup and Reuse
How can the contaminated lands that dot urban neighborhoods and rural lands across the country and the world, often for years or decades, be cleaned up and put to reuse in ways that ensure environmental health, social equity, and thriving local economies? The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) Office of Brownfields in 2021 launched a pilot program to reimagine its approach to addressing brownfields. In our new report published this week, we document the design of the program and compare them to previous approaches to brownfields cleanups.
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Reflection: How libraries can serve as places of belonging
ShaMichael Hallman, author and advocate for public spaces, reflects on how OBI provided him the language and frameworks to create spaces of belonging in this interview with Ivan Natividad, OBI's assistant director of communications. As Director of Civic Health and Economic Opportunity with the Urban Libraries Council in Washington, D.C., Hallman is focused on transforming city and county libraries into dynamic spaces that bring together people from diverse backgrounds—spaces that, he believes, are integral to both public safety and public health.
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Video: Arab Women & Feminist Visions for Equity and Belonging, Part 2
We hosted the second installment of our Arab Women & Feminist Visions for Equity and Belonging webinar series on Tuesday, with speakers from Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the Western Sahara sharing their experiences related to the theme of knowledge production, including in education, the arts, and cultural expressions. The panel included Manal AlDowayan, a leading contemporary artist from Saudi Arabia; Suban Nur Cooley, an Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University; Mena Souilem, feminist activist from Western Sahara; and moderator Hanan Toukan, an Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Politics and Economics Program at the American University of Beirut Mediterraneo. Watch a recording of this event here, and see a recording from our first event here.
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ICYMI: How to Make Sense of this Moment
Last month we hosted a 90-minute panel consisting of OBI staff and a partner to contextualize the current moment our world is experiencing. They looked at what is driving the rise of authoritarianism across the globe, and discussed pathways forward to build a world where everyone belongs and no one is excluded. The speakers included Rachel D. Godsil from the Perception Institute, and our staff, researcher Míriam Juan-Torres, Director john a. powell, and program leader Eli Moore, with our deputy director Ashlin Malouf-Gashaw moderating.
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Join us on April 18 at UC Berkeley for a talk by Prof. Diane Tober about her new book, Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them. The talk will be facilitated by Osagie Obasogie. |
The 1955 Bandung Conference was a significant milestone in restructuring global governance systems in the post-World War II era, far from being a mere gathering of Afro-Asian heads of state or romanticizing it. It boldly challenged (and at times reformed) the established notions and persistent efforts of the colonial, former colonial, and imperial powers of the time to maintain a world hierarchy across culture, polity, knowledge, material, and ontological conditions of global governance and institutions. On April 23, a panel of international experts will remember the conference's legacy, 70 years later, to unite history with our present, and to imagine a world future where everyone and everything belongs.
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Equity-centered data is the foundation for creating a more inclusive and just society, ensuring that data collection, analysis, and decision-making processes include the needs of historically marginalized groups when setting goals for strong and inclusive communities. The North American Equity Data Convening organized by the Othering & Belonging Institute on April 30 will bring together researchers, practitioners, and institutions from across Canada, the United States, and Mexico to explore how data can advance social equity and belonging. Learn more here!
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OBI Housing Research Analyst Nicole Montojo gave a sobering introduction to a recent panel we co-sponsored titled, "Rebuilding After Disaster," about housing and equity implications of catastrophic events, disaster reconstruction, and community resilience. In her remarks, Nicole noted:
"When disaster comes, we can never truly rebuild what was lost. And we know this from the places that have already experienced catastrophic events ... These crises mean a loss of community for many people permanently displaced, and then for those who do return it will be to some place different. They have collectively lost the places that ground their sense of identity, home, safety, connection and belonging." |
Did you know that we offer free, online courses? Check out our virtual learning platform, OBI University (OBIU). It's home to a community of nearly 8,000 learners and is growing every day, so why not join them?
OBIU offers interactive courses on the key frameworks of othering and belonging, a four-part crash course on bridging, a primer on structural racism, and more, all led by friendly human guides. We are cooking up an exciting new course on targeted universalism too.
Currently we're having a book club on The Power of Bridging which features group discussions, arts workshops, and Q&A sessions with expert thinkers. The book club runs through October 2025.
Last year, we dug into john powell and Stephen Menendian's Belonging without Othering as a community in our virtual book club, and we are planning another one to accompany The Power of Bridging in February 2025. |
If you missed our 2024 Othering & Belonging Conference in Oakland, here's your chance to grab some exclusive swag we had designed just for the event. Grab your Belonging-themed apparel before they run out from our O&B Conference merch store. This merch is separate from our regular merch store which sells our standard items.
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Together, we can make belonging the norm, not the exception. – The Othering & Belonging Institute |
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