Belonging isn’t just about feeling included. It’s about creating communities where all people feel seen, connected, and valued.
Coloradans are built for resilience and for showing up for one another. When we come together across differences to listen, learn, and engage in meaningful — and sometimes difficult — conversations, we build connection and collaborate around shared interests and challenges, creating a stronger future for all of us.
From the plains to the mountains to the Front Range, Coloradans know that when we come together and work toward shared understanding, we can build the kind of future we all want — one where everyone feels at home.
Belonging Colorado is a statewide effort to help people connect, participate, and collaborate across differences. Through community grants, learning opportunities, support for local leaders and partners, as well as storytelling and shared experiences that inspire everyday connection, the initiative helps turn the value of belonging into real action across Colorado.
Driven by research from our partners at the Greater Good Science Center and powered by a special fund at The Denver Foundation, it brings Coloradans together to build stronger communities rooted in trust and connection.
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We all want to feel like we belong. It’s more than being welcomed somewhere; it’s feeling valued, respected, and able to show up as your full self in the places that matter most.
Belonging doesn’t mean everyone agrees. It grows when people listen, build trust, and find ways to work together across differences. When neighbors connect, and communities create space for everyone to participate, belonging becomes something we build together.
What Does Belonging Look Like in Colorado?
Research from the Colorado Health Institute’s (CHI) 2024 Colorado Belonging Barometer shows that many Coloradans feel a sense of belonging in their workplaces and everyday relationships, but that feeling is less consistent in local communities and schools. Many people say they’re simply not sure whether they belong. The research also shows where connection most often takes root — in everyday gathering places like parks, libraries, and places of worship — while spaces like online forums, public transit, and schools represent opportunities to strengthen connection.
These insights offer a starting point for understanding belonging in Colorado and remind us that small moments of connection, in the places where people live their daily lives, help build stronger communities across the state.
The Colorado Health Institute’s Belonging Barometer measures how connected people feel in different parts of their lives including their community, workplace, and schools.
Responses fall into three general categories:
These insights help communities identify where belonging is already strong and where there are opportunities to deepen connection. CHI plans to administer the Barometer again in 2027 to track progress and gather updated insights.
Belonging is important because we cannot thrive without it.
Feeling connected supports physical and mental well-being, reducing stress, isolation, and depression.
Belonging fosters trust, cooperation, and the ability to respond to challenges together.
Bridging differences sparks creativity and produces lasting, innovative solutions.
When everyone feels supported, communities thrive, local economies grow, and opportunities expand.
Belonging inspires hope and empowers people to shape a future that works for all.
From housing solutions in our mountain towns to collaborating on food insecurity resourcing in Pueblo and cross-cultural events in Denver, Belonging Colorado is supporting communities in defining belonging on their own terms.
What’s happening so far:
Belonging Colorado is more than an idea. It’s Coloradans working side by side to have tough conversations, find real solutions, and build a better future together.
Bridging helps people connect across lines of difference and work together toward shared goals. Here’s what that looks like in practice.
When communities bridge:
Check out the Bridging Differences Playbook from the Greater Good Science Center for research-backed strategies and tools to support bridging in your community.
Belonging Colorado is an ambitious new effort made possible by a special fund at The Denver Foundation that brings Coloradans together across lines of difference—across race, political affiliation, income, and more—to foster a greater sense of belonging in our state.
Have a question or idea? We’d love to hear from you.
Email us at belongingco@denverfoundation.org
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