Our mission is to end the loneliness epidemic by building the design & culture of belonging

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BELONGING IS

ACCEPTANCE

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BELONGING IS

COMMUNITY

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BELONGING IS

LOVE

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BELONGING IS

LISTENING

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BELONGING IS

PREVENTATIVE

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BELONGING IS

FRIENDSHIP

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BELONGING IS

PRESENCE

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BELONGING IS

EMBRACE

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BELONGING IS

HEALING

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BELONGING IS

HUMAN

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BELONGING IS

MAGNETIC

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BELONGING IS

VALIDATION

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BELONGING IS

PERSPECTIVE

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BELONGING IS

KINDNESS

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BELONGING IS

LOVE

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BELONGING IS

EXPRESSION

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BELONGING IS

CONFIDENCE

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BELONGING IS

COLORFUL

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BELONGING IS

STRENGTH

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BELONGING IS

FRIENDSHIP

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BELONGING IS ACCEPTANCE ✦ BELONGING IS COMMUNITY ✦ BELONGING IS LOVE ✦ BELONGING IS LISTENING ✦ BELONGING IS PREVENTATIVE ✦ BELONGING IS FRIENDSHIP ✦ BELONGING IS PRESENCE ✦ BELONGING IS EMBRACE ✦ BELONGING IS HEALING ✦ BELONGING IS HUMAN ✦ BELONGING IS MAGNETIC ✦ BELONGING IS VALIDATION ✦ BELONGING IS PERSPECTIVE ✦ BELONGING IS KINDNESS ✦ BELONGING IS LOVE ✦ BELONGING IS EXPRESSION ✦ BELONGING IS CONFIDENCE ✦ BELONGING IS COLORFUL ✦ BELONGING IS STRENGTH ✦ BELONGING IS FRIENDSHIP ✦

Belong Center is a preventative mental health nonprofit shifting culture from toxic individualism toward sustained belonging. We create scalable, replicable systems that weave joyful connection into communities.

Our work |🌐,✾|

We design products and programs for human connection that empower everyday citizens to connect and combat loneliness and isolation.

Belong Circles - piloted in 25+ U.S. cities
The Belong Center Blueprint™ - training you to build belonging and create the community circles you crave
Belong Benches - a connection inspiring third space; recently on tour with electronic music band Above & Beyond
Block Parties - joy-fueled neighborhood gatherings
Yellow Zones Consultancy - Advisory with cities, companies, and developers to redesign public space and civic programming for belonging

Belong
Circles

Belong Circles are repeatable peer gatherings designed to create spaces for people to show up human, be witnessed and build meaningful relationships. We’re now decentralizing our pilot program and offering a virtual training program, The Belong Center Blueprint, so anyone, anywhere can learn to find belonging within and create the circles they crave.

Get the Blueprint

Belong
Benches

Belong Benches turn public space into a catalyst for connection with bright, communal seating, inviting strangers to sit together and interact. Developed with world-renowned architect Bjarke Ingels, these benches shift the default from isolation to conversation and serve as scalable, low-cost belonging infrastructure.

Get a Bench in YOUR City

Belong
Study

Building belonging demands an institutional shift. We imagine a world where doctors prescribe collective experience as an antidote to stress, loneliness, or anxiety. Commissioning the Belong Study, in partnership with world-renowned psychologist Dacher Keltner and UC Berkeley, was a first step in realizing this vision.

Read the study

Block
Parties

It’s time to braid our communities back together! There is no better way to connect with neighbors than a good, old-fashioned, joy-fueled block party! Coming this spring, two flagship events in Brownsville, Brooklyn and Harlem, NYC will serve as our proof of concept ~ so we can come play together in other cities! Reach out to partner with us!

Sponsor a Block Party

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Belong Center Blueprint™
Coming Soon!

Learn to build belonging and create your own circles for community to thrive!

5 self-guided video trainings, exercises, and tools to:

Deepen connection with yourself
Strengthen existining relationships
Build the communities you crave

Learn more

The leading cause of depression is loneliness.

1 in 2 American adults experience loneliness

43% of Americans feel they don’t have meaningful relationships (people to talk to about how they really are)

Cigna Corporation, 2018

Social disconnection increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, even early death.

74% of people in the U.S. feel like they don’t belong in their local communities.

Loneliness has the same impact on our mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Department of Health & Human Services, 2023

Join Belong Center

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Resources |🌝,♥|

Our Board |🌞,✨|

Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Professor of psychology and neuroscience, Director of the Social Connections and Health Lab. Lead Scientific Advisor on Social Connection to the Office of the US Surgeon General
Radha Agrawal

Founder and CEO, DAYBREAKER, Co-Founder, THINX, and author of Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life
Dr. Mark Hyman

5X NYTimes bestselling author, leader in Functional Medicine
Charmaine de Mello

Philanthropist and lead fashion designer at Alexander Wang
Lynne Twist

Award-winning speaker, author, fundraiser, and global activist
Randall Mays

Philanthropist, businessman, investor, and CEO of Running M Capital
Dr. James Pawelski

Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Dacher Keltner

Professor of Psychology at the UCAL Berkeley, and the Faculty Director of the Greater Good Science Center
Miki Agrawal

Founder, TUSHY & WILD, Co-Founder, THINX
Eli Clark-Davis

Co-Founder, DAYBREAKER
Timothy Patch

Co-Founder, DAYBREAKER
Karine Plantadit

Former principal dancer at Alvin Ailey, lead cast in “The Lion King” and “Come Fly Away”
David Yarus

Founder of J-Swipe, founder mllnnl
Aine Kimsey

Breathwork practitioner, instructor, and community builder
Paavo Siljamäki

Dance music artist and member of Above & Beyond
Michael Clark

Co-founder of Futurism