if we want to live in a world where everyone belongs, we must build it. Together.
When the World Feels Divided: How We Begin to Build an Environment Where Everyone Belongs
In a time when the world feels louder, harsher, and more divided than ever, the question on many hearts is this: How do we find our way back? How do we create spaces where people feel safe, seen, and valued, no matter their background, beliefs, or identity?
We don’t need to look far to see the fractures. Political rage saturates our screens 24/7. Conversations between neighbors have become battlegrounds. Acts of violence, both physical and verbal, seem to be a daily occurrence. It’s tempting to point fingers outward, to blame “them,” whoever “them” might be. Real change doesn't come from grand statements and press conferences; it comes from the action of personal commitments within our own communities, it comes from the action of state and local leaders.
Belonging Starts at the Local Level
When we talk about “belonging”, we’re talking about something deeper than diversity. It’s about inclusion with intention. Belonging means that a person isn’t just present, they are wanted and valued… and they can feel it. It means the environment, the school, the workplace, the community center, the town hall, actively nurtures connections across differences.
This kind of environment doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built.
Creating a community of belonging requires:
Listening over judging , slowing down to hear where people are really coming from.
Curiosity over assumption , asking questions rather than assigning motives.
Designing spaces that foster interaction , parks, libraries, union halls, and even sports fields can be the start of radical empathy.
Celebrating difference not as a threat, but as an asset to be explored, honored, and shared.
The Cost of Division Is Too High
The current climate of political polarization and manufactured outrage is not just exhausting, it’s dangerous. Research indicates that communities experiencing division and marginalization exhibit specific characteristics like higher rates of mental illness, gun violence, chronic disease, and distrust in institutions. The loneliness epidemic, recently declared a public health crisis, is deeply linked to environments where people feel unseen or unwelcome.
When people don’t feel like they belong, they disengage. From voting. From school. From work. From community life. And that disconnection creates a vacuum, one easily filled by extremism, misinformation, and isolation.
We see this in the heartbreaking stories that make the headlines, from acts of mass violence to targeted hate crimes. But we also see it in the quiet despair of those who no longer feel they have a place in the world around them.
A Vision for Belonging: An Environment for Change
This is why we created the documentary project An Environment for Change. Because we believe that the stories we tell , and the spaces where those stories unfold matter. The docuseries explores six environments where people from wildly different walks of life come together: sports, unions, the military, medicine, politics, and music.
Each episode pulls back the curtain on these spaces to reveal how real dialogue, shared goals, and physical environments can either foster connection or deepen divides. Through candid interviews, archival footage, and raw storytelling, the series shows what it feels like to belong , and what it takes to create those conditions in every community across the country.
The series is accompanied by a national conversation tour with film screening and Q & A, educational community toolkits, a children’s book, and courageous conversation cards designed to spark real, honest dialogue. Not the kind that happens on social media threads, but the kind that happens around kitchen tables, in town halls, and across pews, work shifts, and playgrounds.
Where Do We Begin?
It starts with one community. Yours. It starts by:
Hosting a conversation circle.
Supporting a neighbor's small business.
Attending a community event for a group you know little about.
Watching a documentary that challenges your worldview.
Teaching your children not just tolerance, but empathy.
Demanding leaders invest in environments that unite, not divide.
Because if we want to live in a world where everyone belongs, we must build it. Together.