The purpose of this Subject Guide is to provide GRCC’s campus community with a centralized, curated list of resources and tools, and to empower students, faculty and staff to explore, learn and implement strategies for fostering belonging on campus.
“The real act of, say, building a friendship or creating a community involved performing
a series of small, concrete social actions well: disagreeing without poisoning the relationship; revealing vulnerability at the appropriate pace; being a good listener; knowing how to end a conversation gracefully; knowing how to ask for and offer forgiveness; knowing how to let someone down without breaking their heart; knowing how to sit with someone who is suffering; knowing how to host a gathering where everyone feels embraced; knowing how to see things from another’s point of view.”
David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (2023).
SENSE OF BELONGING:
Achieving the Dream defines sense of belonging as the presence of thoughts and feelings that affirm an individual as connected, accepted, respected, and valued — aspects integral to student persistence and success. Inclusion focuses on the actions. Belonging is the feeling experienced from those inclusive commitments taken by the organization. Achieving the Dream’s Equity Toolkit
Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group. It is when an individual can bring their authentic self to work. When employees feel like they don’t belong at work, their performance and their personal lives suffer. Creating genuine feelings of belonging for all is a critical factor in improving engagement and performance. It also helps support business goals. Source Cornell University
“A sense of belonging—the subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences—is a fundamental human need that predicts numerous mental, physical, social, economic, and behavioral outcomes.” Source: National Institute for Health
“Sense of belonging refers to students’ perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus.” (e.g., faculty, peers)vSource: Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). College Students’ Sense of Belonging:
