What shapes our ability to live well?
Belonging & Becoming (B²) is a three-year longitudinal study following 1,000+ people — examining how community shapes flourishing, and for whom.
Community-based support is growing.
The evidence hasn't kept pace.
B² focuses on people impacted by substance use, mental health challenges, criminal legal system involvement, and social disconnection. Long-term, prospective evidence on how community-based support shapes flourishing for these populations remains limited — and demand for it is growing. B² is helping fill that gap.
The primary outcome of B² is flourishing: a multidimensional measure of how people are doing across six core areas of life.
Flourishing is not purely an individual endeavor. The people around us, the communities we belong to, the opportunities we have to contribute and support others, and the conditions we live in all play a role — and B² is designed to understand exactly how.
Flourishing —
and what shapes it.
Scientific advisors, lived experience advisors, and trained Peer Researchers have each helped shape B² — and remain involved as the study unfolds across the US.
Research built with the very community it serves
