Thank You for a Year of Building Belonging

As this year comes to a close, I find myself holding two important truths at the same time. The global situation is heavy—with wars, environmental strain, intolerance, inequalities, and an epidemic of disconnection all so evident in the news every single day. And yet, alongside the struggles, I see people around the world awakening to the truth of our connectedness, our interdependence, and our Right to Belong. This year, our organization took important steps to leverage this awakening toward substantive change. This autumn, the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness became the Belonging Forum: a home for research, convening, and action rooted in a simple idea—that every person, by simple virtue of being born, has this Right to Belong. And, across multiple areas, we made vital progress, thanks to a growing movement for belonging.

Fellowship and Research

Our flagship fellowship took on a new name: the Samuel Scholars in Belonging, honouring my late father, Ernie Samuel, whose belief in dignity and community inspires our mission. Our Scholars continued to work on the front lines—from disability rights and housing, to climate, the care economy, and youth mental health—showing what belonging looks like in practice.

This was also a year of deep listening and rigorous inquiry. In the UK, we released our second Belonging Barometer, a world-leading study on the state of human connectedness in terms of people, place, power, and purpose, capturing the views of 10,000 people. In Canada, we launched the first Belonging Signal, a 4,000-person snapshot of how people experience belonging across these same four dimensions. Together, these studies tell a clear story: people are yearning for connection, increasingly anxious about division, and seeking to feel a real stake in social, political, and economic decision-making. Our Belonging Research Lab is beginning to weave these threads into a shared evidence base—one that can guide policymakers, community leaders, and institutions toward measurable change.

2025 Global Symposium

In October, we gathered in person in Toronto for our fifth Global Symposium, this year under the theme “Bridges to Belonging.” Participants came from Peru and Kenya, the UK, South Africa, Australia, the US, Canada, and beyond—researchers, advocates, artists, civil servants, caregivers, and community builders. Together, we explored the art and science of building belonging: in green spaces and schools, in care systems and workplaces, in faith communities and across digital platforms. We unveiled new books authored by partners in our movement, with support from Belonging Forum.

We took steps together toward the development of a new Charter for Belonging—a forthcoming framework designed to help governments, businesses, and civil society honour belonging as a core responsibility and orienting value. The Charter will lay out practical principles—across people, place, power, and purpose—that can guide decisions in sectors as varied as transport, housing, health, education, and technology.

Learn More →

UK Visits

Over the past year, we continued our travels across the UK and other regions to learn from communities living the realities behind the data. We heard from local leaders and residents in various communities navigating questions of identity, social cohesion, safety, and survival amid intense economic and political pressures.

At Anthropy at the Eden Project, we hosted sessions inviting leaders from business, civil society, and public institutions to co-create ideas for a national and global agenda for belonging.During Loneliness Awareness Week, we convened a gathering to connect the dots between policy, practice, and personal stories of isolation and hope. Each of these moments reminded us that building belonging requires bringing people together across difference—ideally in person—to practice imagination and commit to tangible action. 

Walrus Talks

Across the Atlantic, we joined forces with the venerable Walrus Magazine, hosting a series of Walrus Talks on topics including volunteerism, place and neighbourhoods, and aging and belonging. Through these events, we joined together thousands of people online and in person, for authentic conversations that surfaced real challenges people are facing as well as creative solutions that are emerging.

Belonging Forum Comedy Night

On World Kindness Day, we hosted our first Belonging Forum Comedy Night at Hoxton Hall in London, featuring an outstanding roster of comedians. It was an evening of hilarity but also real insight: each performer, in their own way, reflected on issues like disability, difference, and what it means to feel at home in one’s own skin.

Learn More →

Featured Commentary 

Throughout the year, we were also humbled to see the ideas from this movement reach wider audiences. Our commentary on belonging, social trust, AI, and the care economy appeared in outlets such as Time Magazine, Scientific American, The Globe and Mail, and other newspapers and platforms around the world.  

Looking Ahead

In the year ahead, we will continue to refine and share the Charter for Belonging, support new cohorts of Samuel Scholars, deepen the work of the Belonging Research Lab, innovate in new programs and partnerships, and create new and deeper spaces—online and offline—where people can come together to feel, listen, safely express, imagine, and connect.None of this work would be possible without you—our respected partners, collaborators, and friends. You have shown up as co‑researchers, co‑creators, and co‑dreamers: sharing your data and your stories, inviting us into your communities, challenging us to go deeper, advocating for principles and ideas, and revealing new possibilities.

This movement belongs to all of us.

Wishing you Happy Holidays. May the year ahead bring you inspiration, connection, joy, and an ever-deepening experience of belonging. 

With gratitude,

Kim Samuel 
Founder and Chief Architect  
The Belonging Forum 
www.belongingforum.org
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