The American Immigration Council has published a case study on how Maybelle Center, a community health organization in downtown Portland, made the Belonging Barometer part of its everyday work.
The Belonging Barometer is a research-based survey created by Over Zero and the Council’s Center for Inclusion and Belonging. It measures whether people feel connected, valued, and have a voice.
Why Maybelle Center measures belonging
For more than 30 years, Maybelle Center has worked alongside adults navigating mental health challenges or financial hardship. Our focus has shifted from reducing social isolation to intentionally building belonging. That raised a hard question. “We wanted to measure belonging,” says Shane Skinner, Lead Member Inclusion Coordinator. “But how can you measure something so subjective?”
The Barometer gave us an answer: a research-backed definition that breaks belonging into parts we can talk about, track, and strengthen.
What the case study highlights
- Three focus areas. 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.
- Belonging built into planning. Before each event, staff ask how it will build belonging. Afterward, they look at whether it did.
- Simple, low-cost tools. As the case study notes, our first survey used paper forms, prepaid return envelopes, volunteers to enter responses, and a board member with data expertise to analyze the results.
- A yearly survey. We plan to repeat the survey each year to track change over time.
“Belonging becomes the compass,” Shane says.
What we found
In our February 2026 survey, 70% of Members who responded scored in the belonging range. Most Members feel welcomed. Fewer feel they have a say in decisions, and that is where we are focused on growing. Read more in Can You Measure Belonging?.
Since 1991, our neighborhood work has run almost entirely on donor gifts. Your support helps us keep building belonging, and keep measuring it.
Read the full case study from the American Immigration Council.
