Our latest Inclusiveness Index is out, with new tools and features
We are excited to unveil our 2025 Inclusive Index today, which includes an updated look and new features to make the user experience more intuitive and easier to find the data you're looking for. There is nothing shocking about this year's results, which again saw New Zealand and Hawaii top the rankings as most inclusive country and US state, as they did last year. But now our interactive tables include a column showing how much better or worse each state and country is doing compared to the previous year. It also includes a brand new tool allowing the user to select two countries or states for comparison. Our annual Inclusiveness Index, now in its tenth year, ranks countries and US states by their levels of inclusion based on a handful of indicators, including how well they respect the rights of different groups based on their race, gender, dis/ability, religion, and the general population.
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Listening to the Listeners: Lessons from Long Bridge Canvassing
Could you knock on the door of someone that you disagree with and have an open, connecting conversation? In 2024, canvassers across five states set out with this very question in mind. This wasn’t your typical political canvassing. Instead, it was a new form of canvassing called long-bridge canvassing– a method designed not to persuade, but to connect. Black, working-class canvassers knocked on the doors of affluent, white voters; urban canvassers knocked on the doors of rural residents; and progressive canvassers knocked on the doors of conservative counterparts. Read more about this project in this new blog post by Ella Streng, OBI's video producer, who spent six months researching this pilot as part of her master’s thesis.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the author. |
Is Civil Society the New Battlefield for Democracy?
Changes in the political order—globally and nationally—are part and parcel of human history. In 2025, the process of becoming less and less inclusive and democratic is seemingly leaving no country unscathed. The arc of history is bending in the direction of othering and continued oppression. According to V-Dem, 2025 marks the 25th consecutive year of autocratization (that is, of the world becoming even less democratic). For the first time in 20 years, there are more autocracies than democracies... Read more from this latest blog post by Míriam Juan-Torres González, Head of Research at OBI's Democracy & Belonging Forum.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the author. |
We now have racial disparity data for San Francisco and Philadelphia
We have just updated our Racial Disparities Dashboard with city-level data for the first time showing progress and setbacks for Black-white equity at the city level in San Francisco and Philadelphia. The dashboard highlights disparities in key areas such as education, income, health, and other critical life outcomes. The data is displayed on a few interactive widgets that allow the user to dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the disparities for any given issue.
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Register for our 2026 Othering & Belonging Conference!
We have opened registration for our next Othering & Belonging Conference happening in Louisville, Kentucky on March 31-April 1, 2026! Whether this is your first O&B conference, or fifth, we invite you to come to Louisville and take an active role in shaping this dynamic two-day conference alongside us. Our conferences are designed to be fully immersive spaces that bring together leading thinkers, doers, and visionaries to share strategies and purpose on building societies rooted in care and the fundamental belief that all people have the unconditional right to belong.
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Hossein Ayazi, Senior Policy Analyst from OBI's Global Justice Program, was invited to be part of an expert panel on September 26th for the launch of the Kühn Initiative for Post-Conflict Development Studies as part of the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley. |
Oct. 29: Structural Racism Book Talk
Join us in person at UC Berkeley on Oct. 29 at 4pm for a dynamic conversation featuring OBI Assistant Director Stephen Menendian and other Berkeley scholars to discuss the nature and causes of racial inequality in the United States. Stephen will open the event by summarizing the themes of his recently published book, Structural Racism: The Dynamics of Opportunity and Race in America, before engaging with panelists john a. powell, Director of OBI; and Anna Livia Brand, associate professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, about how they think about racial inequality and pathways to build a more just society. The event will be moderated by Tina Sacks, associate professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare.
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Oct. 30: What I Saw in Gaza: A Surgeon's Account
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa volunteered with the World Health Organization at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, March 25 – April 2, 2024, and again from March 3 – April 2, 2025, with MedGlobal, an American Non-governmental Organization (NGO). In “What I Saw in Gaza: A Surgeon's Account,” Dr. Sidhwa will provide eyewitness testimony of the genocide against Palestinians through a series of cases that he encountered as a trauma surgeon serving in the Gaza Strip. This is an in-person only event.
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Nov. 8-16: Cultural Week of Action
As our communities fight against erasure of their histories, we must all come together to celebrate ourselves, protect our cultures, and reclaim our narratives. We’re proud to partner with Race Forward for the Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy, November 8-16. This is an opportunity to deepen commitments to racial justice and inclusive democracy through music, storytelling, movement, and collective learning in communities across the nation. Learn more and see how YOU can take action!
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+ WORK WITH US We currently have one staff position open:
Check our website regularly for the most up-to-date information on job vacancies. |
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Together, we can make belonging the norm, not the exception. – The Othering & Belonging Institute |
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