We are happy to launch a new video and report about our Bridging for Democracy (B4D) project headed by OBI's Network for Transformative Change. In short, B4D is redefining how we defend democracy through an innovative partnership among social justice movement organizations across the country. Together, we are developing practices and narratives for rehumanizing and rebuilding our mutual commitments to one another across deep “us-them” divides.
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Through long bridge canvassing and community centered bridging conversations, B4D has created a new toolbox to transform our civic engagement work and move towards a bigger “we.” These practices have already been transforming our field by helping organizations reach new constituencies and strengthen base building programs. Learn more about the project here where you can watch a short video introducing B4D and download a report about our 2024 pilot.
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You'll also be able to learn more about B4D at the NetRoots Nation Conference happening next month in New Orleans. At the conference, OBI's Mansi Kathuria will moderate a panel, titled, Bridging for Democracy: Strategies for Bridging Across Racial, Ideological and Urban-Rural Divides, happening on Saturday, on Aug. 9 at 3:15pm.
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Blog: A Story of Bridging in Little Saigon, Orange County, CA
In OBI’s community-engaged research, we often hear community members and neighbors express a readiness to bridge that exceeds expectations. There is a thirst that spans demographic groups and geographies to be able to connect with others across lines of racial, linguistic, and other differences, and to build real mutual understanding. This new blog post by OBI Research Associate Christina Long tells the story of community organizations in Orange County, CA that are meeting the need for bridging spaces for their communities.
| Impact Story: 'How OBI's conference helped me tell my story'
In our latest impact story published this week, we offer a first person narrative from a student who found deep resonance with the stories they heard at last year's Othering & Belonging Conference in Oakland. The student, who agreed to share their story under an alias due to the ongoing repression targeting activists, wrote: "At the time [of the conference], major pro-Palestinian student protests were unfolding—Columbia had already been raided, and my own school was launching one. ... I remember feeling torn, wondering, 'Why am I here when I should be on the ground organizing?' Despite that internal conflict, I found solace in the relaxation and meditation room. It gave me space to collect my thoughts, to journal, and to process everything happening around me."
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Blog: Gender, Goosebumps, Grace, and Grieving
OBI's Campus Bridging Project Specialist Julia McKeown authored a new blog post this week offering a reflection on the poet Andrea Gibson’s teachings, and passing. Julia writes: "I had hoped to meet Andrea one day. Convinced myself that somewhere in the overlap of our shared Venn diagrams (trans, disabled, poet, community builder) we would cross paths and I could show them my tattoo inspired by their words, tell them the myriad times and ways they had seen me, had saved me, and which of their poems I considered friends."
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Join a Workshop to Inform the Statewide Topical Reports of California’s Fifth Climate Assessment
The California Fifth Climate Change Assessment Team is seeking input from community organizations, experts on the ground, and residents with lived experiences to inform the Statewide Topical Reports. The virtual workshop, happening on Thursday, Aug. 7 from 1pm to 2:30pm, will include breakout discussions on housing, health, labor, and education, which will be featured in all four reports.
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Apply to the 2025 Targeted Universalism Community of Practice by JULY 30
Enrollment is now open for the 3rd annual Targeted Universalism Community of Practice (TU COP)—a transformative 7-month journey led by Seed Collaborative, inspired by the pioneering work of john a. powell and the Othering & Belonging Institute. Over 150 changemakers from 25 states—across government, philanthropy, nonprofits, education, social impact, and beyond—have joined this growing movement to implement Targeted Universalism.
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What You’ll Learn in the TU COP: - A step-by-step approach to implement Targeted Universalism
- Connect with a national learning community of peers, mentors and experts
- Deepen your practice with TU and data, evaluation, communications
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Practices of belonging, bridging, co-creation and embodiment
- Real-world examples and collective problem-solving
Key Details
Information here
Enroll by July 30, 2025: Application
Learn more at Zoom info session: July 28, 10-11 AM PT: Register here
More questions? FAQs |
The ninth installment of an essay series on eugenics OBI is helping support published by the Los Angeles Review of Books came out earlier this month. This latest article by Oliver Rollins, titled, "Murderous Genes and Criminal Brains," explores how the new biology of crime opens a backdoor to eugenics. Rollins is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at MIT. OBI is helping to support LARB's Legacies of Eugenics essay series along with the Center for Genetics and Society and Berkeley Public Health. Click here to see all parts of this series.
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A recently released survey co-led by a team at OBI on the impacts of rent control measures in Richmond and two other Bay Area cities was covered in this new article in the Grandview Independent, a local Richmond news site.
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Join over 9,000 learners on OBI University (OBIU), where free, interactive courses cover key topics like othering and belonging, bridging, and structural racism. We’re excited to launch three new courses in the Targeted Universalism series! Following the foundational course What is Targeted Universalism?, the expanded series now includes:
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Together, we can make belonging the norm, not the exception. – The Othering & Belonging Institute |
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