In The Power of Bridging, John A. Powell offers an essential roadmap for building bridges across our divisions and creating a society where everyone feels they belong. He explains how “othering” and “breaking” keep us apart—casting people as outsiders or excluding them altogether—while “bridging” invites connection, solidarity, and shared humanity. With a mix of personal insight and practical tools, Powell shows how each of us can become a “bridger” in our families, workplaces, and communities. This book is both a call to action and a guide, reminding us that bridging is not just a response to division, but a path toward co-creating a future grounded in belonging.

john a.powell is Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute and Professor of Law, African American, and Ethnic Studies at the University of California,Berkeley. He was previously the Executive Director at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, and prior to that, the founder and director of the Institute for Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota. john formerly served as the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He is a co-founder of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and serves on the boards of several national and international organizations. john led the development of an“opportunity-based” model that connects affordable housing to education, health, healthcare, and employment and is well-known for his work developing the frameworks of “targeted universalism” and “othering and belonging” to effect equity-based interventions. john has taught at numerous law schools including Harvard and Columbia University. His latest books are Belonging Without Othering, How We Save Ourselves and the World and The Power of Bridging, How to Build a World where we all Belong.