This spring, Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) partnered with Oregon’s Kitchen Table and Izora Arts & Sciences to hear from 1,100 Oregonians about what helps create a sense of belonging for students in college and training programs. We heard from over 1,100 people! You can read an overview of what people shared.
We distilled all those ideas into 74 factors. All the factors are important, but some of them also help other factors gain momentum. Our next step is to hear from you about which of those factors have the greatest potential to influence students’ sense of belonging statewide.
If you’re a current or recent student, faculty, or staff at a college or training program, this is where you come in!
You can take part in a fun, online exercise at https://tinyurl.com/belong-exercise (in English) to make connections between the factors by answering 5 matching questions. It takes about 8 minutes. You can also answer more matching questions if you would like. If you prefer you can also do the exercise in Spanish at https://tinyurl.com/comunidad-ejercicio.
OKT and Izora Arts & Sciences will provide a full report with a detailed analysis of the community input and factors in early 2027. This will help HECC and partners to decide on actions to support belonging across Oregon postsecondary learning settings.
Invite people you know who are students, faculty, staff, administrators or community partners with postsecondary learning institutions to participate, too! We’ve also put together this outreach toolkit you can use.
The exercise will be open through December 11, 2026.