By Jillianne Bandstra and Shane Skinner, Maybelle Center
Yes. Maybelle Center measures belonging with the Belonging Barometer, a 10-question survey that asks whether people feel connected, valued, and have a voice. In our February 2026 survey, 70% of Members who responded scored in the belonging range.
Why measure belonging instead of loneliness?
Since 1991, Maybelle Center has focused on social isolation. But measuring isolation only counts what’s missing in people’s lives. We wanted a word for what we are building, not what people lack. So we chose belonging, and then we looked for a way to measure it.
The Belonging Barometer was created by Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council. It describes belonging as feeling emotionally connected, welcomed, and valued for who you are, being able to be yourself, and being able to influence decisions. It scores each person from 1 to 5 and sorts results into three ranges: belonging, ambiguity (unsure), and exclusion.
How did we survey our Members?
Our Neighborhood Programs survey and evaluation work is led by Shane Skinner, Lead Member Inclusion Coordinator. In February 2026, we mailed the survey to all 210 active Members, along with our newsletter and a stamped return envelope. We added smiley faces to the answer scale to make it easier to use. In March, we followed up by phone, and some Members filled out the survey with help at the Center. We also added two questions of our own: whether Members feel they truly belong when interacting with people in Portland, and whether they want to increase their connection and belonging in 2026.
What did we find?
86 of 210 Members responded, a 41% response rate. Of those:
- 70% scored in the belonging range, 28% in ambiguity, and 2% in exclusion.
- About 3 in 4 said they want more connection and belonging this year.
- More Members rated their belonging higher at Maybelle Center (27%) than in Portland overall (15%). Most (58%) rated them the same.
Here is how Members answered on specific parts of belonging:
| Members who responded said they… | Agree |
| Feel welcomed and included in activities | 88% |
| Feel valued for their contributions | 83% |
| Are not treated as “less than” others | 80% |
| Feel comfortable expressing their opinions | 79% |
| Feel like an “insider” | 52% |
| Feel able to influence decisions | 44% |
In short, most Members feel welcomed. Fewer feel they have a say. That gap matters, because belonging means more than being welcomed. It means having a voice. For context, a 2026 national study found that only about 1 in 4 Americans feel able to influence decisions in their local community.
What are the limits of these results?
We want to be clear about what this survey can and can’t tell us. The Members who responded were among our most active. They had a median of 21 interactions with us in 2025, compared with 3 for those who didn’t respond. Very few Residents of Macdonald Residence, our assisted living home, responded, and almost no Members without stable housing did. So these results describe our most engaged, housed Members, not everyone.
The question comparing Maybelle Center and Portland is our own addition, not part of the original Barometer. And this is our first full year of results, so we can’t yet show change over time.
What are we doing with what we learned?
We shared these results with Members first, in our November 2026 newsletter. We plan to repeat the survey each year, so we can see what changes and hear from more Members, especially those we missed this time.
The survey also shapes our everyday work. Neighborhood Programs focuses on three parts of belonging: feeling welcomed and included, feeling valued for who you are and what you contribute, and having space to share different opinions. Before each event, staff ask how it will build belonging. Afterward, they look at whether it did. “Belonging becomes the compass,” Shane says.
The lowest scores show us where to grow: giving Members a real say in how things work. We already know what that looks like when we get it right. When Member Jill pointed out that candle prizes at bingo didn’t work for Members who can’t light candles at home, the next prize was a diffuser. “They take our suggestions, and they immediately implement them,” her daughter Donika says. “It makes us feel very important.” Our goal is for more Members to feel that way.
We are also sharing what we learn with others. In September 2026, the American Immigration Council published a case study on how Maybelle Center made the Belonging Barometer part of everyday practice. Also in 2026, Maybelle Center served on the advisory committee for the Center for Inclusion and Belonging’s Unlocking Belonging Summit and led a breakout session there. We were also panelists at the most-attended breakout session at the Council on Foundations’ Building Together Conference, and presented at the Council’s Learning Across Differences Ideas Forum to more than 120 registered attendees.
Since 1991, our neighborhood work has run almost entirely on donor gifts. Your support helps us keep building belonging, and keep measuring it.
Frequently asked questions
Who created the Belonging Barometer?
Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council. It measures belonging in different parts of life, such as a local community, workplace, or group.
Does a high belonging score mean someone isn’t lonely?
Not necessarily. Both are feelings, but they cover different ground. Belonging is how you feel about your fit in a specific place or group. Loneliness is the painful feeling of a gap between the connection you want and the connection you have in your life overall.
Someone can feel they truly belong at Maybelle Center and still feel lonely at home in the evenings or on weekends. Our survey asked Members how they feel within the Maybelle Center community, so a high score tells us they feel they fit here. It doesn’t tell us whether they feel lonely in the rest of their life.
About the authors
Jillianne Bandstra has spent nearly 10 years at Maybelle Center, where she is Communications Director. She also supports fundraising and works with Neighborhood Programs on their theory of change, how they evaluate results, and the words used to describe the work. When Maybelle looked for a positive counterpart to “social isolation,” a word for what it builds rather than what people lack, she helped choose “belonging.” She reads widely in the research on belonging, social isolation, social health, and social capital, and holds a master’s in Educational Leadership and an MBA.
Shane Skinner is Lead Member Inclusion Coordinator in Maybelle Center’s Neighborhood Programs, where he leads survey and evaluation work. He led Maybelle’s adoption of the Belonging Barometer, which the American Immigration Council featured in a 2026 case study.
Sources
- Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging: The Belonging Barometer (revised 2024)
- American Immigration Council: How Maybelle Center Made the Belonging Barometer Part of Everyday Practice (September 2026)
- American Immigration Council: National Study: Only 1 in 4 Americans Believe They Can Influence Outcomes in Their Local Community (July 2026)
- Maybelle Center 2026 Belonging Barometer survey (February 2026) and 2026 Impact Report
