Belonging Framework
Last updated 7/17/2026
Our Belonging framework identifies seven core domains that were developed out of our Fortifying Futures (FF) project. FF learnings found that experiencing a majority of them is necessary to foster true youth wellbeing.
- Basic needs: Efforts that help satisfy basic needs like food, shelter and transportation, help reduce existential stresses and demonstrate to youth that they are valued.
- Wellbeing: Infrastructure that promotes wellbeing, especially behavioral wellbeing, helps people traverse many experiences and allows them to better know themselves.
- Building Skills: Expand learning through education and skill-sharing relationships to help young people discover and celebrate their talents and interests. Support their future goals, despite trauma, showing the community’s investment in them.
- Intergenerational Connection: Regular interaction across generations builds a certainty that ‘all youth are our youth’ and helps youth feel accountable to others around them.
- Space: The creation of spaces – both virtual and physical – that convey a sense of belonging thanks to strategic placement, visual components, resources and messages.
- Safeness: Built and natural environments that engender a true sense of safeness – without promulgating false narratives about unsafety – allow youth to attend to their growth and reassure them that the community cares about them.
- Promoting Identity: The intentional celebration of culture and personal identity in community helps youth feel seen and appreciated.
