Affinity Groups

Creating Belonging at the Harris Center

Affinity groups welcome people with a shared identity, background, or interest — such as race, gender identity, lived experience, sexual orientation, physical ability, or another commonality — to gather together. These groups offer the space for members to support and affirm one another, reflect on shared experiences, and feel comfortable, safe, and empowered. Affinity groups invite each attendee to show up and be seen as their fullest self, a self which may not be welcomed or fully understood by the dominant culture. In doing so, these groups represent an opportunity for members to take a break — to rest — from being “othered” or misunderstood, from acting as teachers, from representing an entire group of people, and from fearing or experiencing disrespect or violence.

Affinity groups have come about from a growing understanding that our dominant culture has produced injustice, inequity, and exclusion. They are spaces that center those whose experiences and voices have historically been marginalized.

By offering space for affinity groups, the Harris Center is taking a page out of nature’s playbook. In nature, diversity is not only accepted but is essential: every species, every being, plays a critical role in the resilience and health of its ecosystem. When beavers engineer their dams, the resulting ponds and meadows not only benefit the beavers but also create the conditions for nutrients to enrich the soil, for water to slow down and stay a while, and for birds, mammals, insects, and amphibians alike to thrive. In nature, there is a deep knowing that creating space for one creates belonging for all.

We, too, are nature, and we are striving to create the conditions for everyone to belong.

These Harris Center programs were designed to welcome specific groups of people:

• Babies in Backpacks
• Birding for All
• Hiking through Grief
• LAB GIRLS+
• LGBTQ+ Community Outings
• Veterans Outings

In Their Own Words