2026 Bridge Conference

Drawing on doctoral research with high school Black girls (ages 13–18) in Worcester, MA, this interactive workshop explores how Black girls act as architects of their own belonging across out-of-school-time (OST) programs and city spaces. Participants will examine "underground geographies of belonging" such as the informal networks of care, safety, and community Black girls create beyond institutional boundaries. Using a Black girl-centered mapping tool, attendees will analyze how belonging is shaped across micro (relationships), meso (organizations), and macro (city systems) levels. Rather than introducing a new model of belonging, this workshop centers the methods Black girls already use to create it and explores how organizational design, evaluation practices, and belonging metrics can be grounded in Black girls' existing ways of knowing, being, and building community. Participants will leave with a framework for rethinking how organizations define, measure, and cultivate belonging from the ground up.