Belonging: The Breath of Community
Written by Tim Buckley, September 2026
In 2026, Belonging emerged as a common city-wide theme. Perhaps it was stimulated by the work of Ben McBride, brought here eight years ago by Salem Leadership Foundation (SLF) and then, in 2024, by the City Police Department (SPD), hoping to build a community response to increased gun violence. A coalition emerged, led by CBEL, SLF, Mano a Mano, SPD, the Willamette Health Council and Salem Health. (Links are embedded in that report, to view the four citywide forums.)
At CBEL’s Collaborative Gathering this month, nearly 100 snugged into The Rec to build belonging, sharing breakfast while discussing two questions: Who in your life first helped you find belonging? And, how can you help foster belonging in your community?
CBEL’s Board Chair Paul De Muniz, who served as Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice introduced a diverse panel of local leaders. In his preface, De Muniz quoted American psychologist Tara Brach, who wrote about “the clench in her heart” formed by the impact of not being accepted. De Muniz said, “If enough people live with that “clench”, our whole community loses trust, loses opportunity to learn from one another and, ultimately, some of our collective potential.”
Panel members Krishna Namburi, Kyle Dickinson, Debbie Aguilar, Levi Herrera, and R.J. Hampton were then asked to address their experience of othering and belonging.
Krishna Namburi, Salem’s City Manager, was born in SE India and struggled for acceptance in a technical school where the 100 females represented just over ONE PERCENT of the student population of 7,000.
R.J. Hampton, former lead software developer at Oracle, current President of the Salem NAACP, and the Drone and Robotics program director at CTEC, was born in the Jim Crow era in NW Alabama. He recalled an uncle who challenged him to “see difference as an attribute.” His uncle also taught him “that the structure of society doesn’t define me.”
Kyle Dickinson, Exec. Director of SLF, said that a common phrase from Father Greg Boyle has been inspirational. Founder of Homeboy Industries, Boyle’s welcome to each of the young gangsters who join him is: “You’re here and I’m so glad that you are.”
Debbie Agular, Deputy Chief of SPD, said Ben McBride was an inspiration for her. Only the second female to reach this rank locally, Agular said that McBride’s invitation to “join him in building the table of inclusion” was important to her as a leader.
Levi Herrera, Exec. Director of Mano a Mano, experienced the “harassment of immigrants” in Salem, but learned that “if you don’t speak up, if you don’t show up, nothing changes, and the result is a diminished community.”
Emcee Elizabeth Heredia, one of the CBEL leaders of Cummings’ Neighborhood Family Council, asked panelists, “Why is there a tendency to ‘Other’ people?”
Here are segments of the great answers:
Levi Herrera: A lack of information helps create ‘othering’. Misinformation can become anyone’s only source of information.
Kyle Dickinson: We have a tendency to see, interpret and then act. If we learn to stay curious and ask questions first, we’ll gain a better understanding before we act.
Debbie Aguilar: Don’t get me started on social media…it quicky creates silos (of those with the same opinion) and what’s lost is curiosity about those who have a different experience.
R.J. Hampton: If we don’t take time to define who we are, it’s easy to be defined by others. And then it’s easier to then do the same thing to them.
Krishna Namburi: As a leader, it takes discipline to stay neutral when in discussion with others. Neutrality doesn’t preclude having an opinion, but it’s important to establish dignity intentionally, irrespective of differences.
Heredia than asked a follow up question: “What is your advice about creating more belonging?”
Levi Herrera: We’re making a lot of improvements at the micro level (person to person). We need a lot more work at the macro level, the level of institutions.
Kyle Dickinson: We need to constantly ask ourselves the question, “Who’s missing at the table?” If I get to be here, you have to be here too.
R.J. Hampton: What’s best for the family is not always best for the community. But what’s best for the community will be inclusive, thus be the best for the whole community…as well as the individual family!
The half hour remaining to discuss all this was clearly not enough for the 100 who had heard this stimulating discussion. Many stayed around for a half hour after the gathering adjourned, sharing openly and making deeper connection.
At the CBEL staff meeting afterwards, there was unanimous sentiment that Belonging is like Pandora’s famous box…it’s been opened, and there are many riches left to discover as we dig a bit deeper.
