Creating a Sense of Belonging

All young peo­ple should feel like they belong — that they are wel­come and rec­og­nized as human beings with strengths, poten­tial and aspi­ra­tions. Yet, this isn’t a giv­en for young peo­ple of col­or, whose cul­ture, his­to­ry and accom­plish­ments are often absent or unrec­og­nized by the peo­ple and places shap­ing their every­day lives. 

This post explores what it would look like to advance racial equi­ty in ways that would cre­ate places to live, work and play where every young per­son feels both wel­come and included. 

Belong­ing Research

Cul­ture, belong­ing and inclu­sion can direct­ly affect out­comes for young peo­ple, research indi­cates. Inspired by the work of schol­ar john a. pow­ell and the Oth­er­ing & Belong­ing Insti­tute at UC Berke­ley, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion brought young peo­ple of col­or togeth­er with elders, thought lead­ers and youth move­ment orga­niz­ers to define what it takes to cre­ate a tru­ly inclu­sive envi­ron­ment for young people. 

“We learned that cre­at­ing belong­ing doesn’t just hap­pen,” says Leslie Boissiere, the Foundation’s vice pres­i­dent of Exter­nal Affairs. ​“It requires care­ful­ly con­sid­er­ing the expe­ri­ences that young peo­ple have and rec­og­niz­ing the unique val­ue of these expe­ri­ences. It’s also about ensur­ing that young peo­ple see them­selves reflect­ed in a place or a sit­u­a­tion and active­ly lis­ten­ing to what they have to say to con­tin­u­al­ly rein­force that they mat­ter and that this envi­ron­ment is designed to sup­port them and help them thrive.”

A lead­ing schol­ar on race equi­ty and the direc­tor of the Oth­er­ing & Belong­ing Insti­tute, pow­ell has described the root of racial, eth­nic and reli­gious con­flict explod­ing across the globe as a prob­lem of ​“oth­er­ing.” He defines oth­er­ing as entrenched sys­tems of thought and behav­ior that under­pin per­va­sive and per­pet­u­al dis­par­i­ties. To counter these tac­tics, pow­ell writes, we must iden­ti­fy and advo­cate for inclu­sive places and new nar­ra­tives that pro­mote belonging. 

Such moves are crit­i­cal for healthy devel­op­ment, accord­ing to research. Young peo­ple are adapt­able to learn­ing and inno­va­tion, but the effects of tox­ic expo­sures — includ­ing struc­tur­al racism and dis­crim­i­na­tion — can cause last­ing harm to con­fi­dence and pos­i­tive iden­ti­ty devel­op­ment. The inter­play between biol­o­gy and the envi­ron­ment makes it imper­a­tive that the sys­tems respon­si­ble for guid­ing young peo­ple into adult­hood send an unequiv­o­cal­ly sup­port­ive message.

Key Com­po­nents of Belonging

The part­ners that the Foun­da­tion brought togeth­er iden­ti­fied sev­en con­crete ways to let young peo­ple know they belong:

1. Mak­ing first impres­sions mean­ing­ful. When young peo­ple enter a place or a sit­u­a­tion, they should be active­ly greet­ed with cer­e­monies and words that both acknowl­edge them and engage them ful­ly and authentically.
2. Being seen. Indige­nous youth told the Foun­da­tion that they feel invis­i­ble and want to be seen for who they are. Black youth felt seen—but in a neg­a­tive way—and expressed a desire for this to change. 
3. Being affirmed. Young peo­ple of col­or have their iden­ti­ties affirmed when they learn about the con­tri­bu­tions, pow­er and resilien­cy of their people. 
4. Valu­ing cul­ture. Cul­ture helps Black and indige­nous youth see them­selves in a pos­i­tive, racism-free frame. 
5. Being heard. Young peo­ple need time and atten­tion paid to their sto­ries, ques­tions, ideas and ways of express­ing them­selves. What they have to say is of value.
6. Hav­ing a sense of agency. Feel­ing able to con­trol your indi­vid­ual tra­jec­to­ry and cre­ate change in your envi­ron­ment is deeply con­nect­ed to pos­i­tive youth devel­op­ment.
7. Focus­ing on well-being. Orga­ni­za­tions and insti­tu­tions should hold them­selves account­able by track­ing well-being mea­sures in belong­ing, thriv­ing and flour­ish­ing. Assess­ments should cap­ture data on a young person’s con­nec­tion to land, nature, com­mu­ni­ty and culture.

More Resources on Belonging

Read an overview of what belong­ing looks like

Watch the Oth­er­ing & Belong­ing Institute’s video on build­ing an inclu­sive society

View the Foundation’s resources for advanc­ing racial equi­ty