For decades, community revitalization has been measured by what we can easily count: number of new businesses, jobs created, building rehabilitations, affordable housing units, and dollars invested. Those metrics matter, but they don’t show the full picture.
The Washington State Main Street Program wanted to answer a different question: Do people actually feel like they belong in their downtowns? To find out, the organization turned to the Belonging Barometer.
The Washington State Main Street Program supports approximately 80 downtown organizations across the state, helping communities preserve historic places while creating vibrant, economically thriving downtowns. For years, program leaders knew their work created social value, bringing neighbors together, creating welcoming gathering spaces, and fostering community pride, but they struggled to measure those outcomes.
“We’ve always known about the social impact of our work,” said Lydia Felty of the Washington State Main Street Program. “But articulating that social return on investment has been elusive.”
For years, success was measured through tangible outcomes: buildings rehabilitated, new businesses opened, and jobs created.
Those metrics captured economic impact, but they couldn’t answer equally important questions: Do residents feel connected to their community? Do they feel welcome in downtown spaces? Do they believe they can help shape their community’s future?
“We kept asking ourselves, ‘How do you know if an event achieved something beyond bringing people downtown or increasing sales for local businesses?’ Those metrics are important—but they don’t tell the full story,” says Felty.
After being introduced to the Belonging Barometer by a longtime colleague, the team immediately saw its potential and worked to put it into action.
“The Belonging Barometer provides such a clear framework for how to approach this work with a very clear ‘why,'” Felty said. “It’s difficult work, but the framework makes it accessible.”
Just as importantly, the survey was designed to be replicated and adapted for different settings.
Instead of measuring belonging broadly, Washington Main Street customized the survey to focus specifically on residents’ experiences in their downtown communities. Questions explored whether people felt emotionally connected to their downtown, welcomed by others, and able to influence decisions affecting their community.
“The survey felt incredibly adaptable,” Felty said. “If it can work nationally, locally, in workplaces, schools, and communities, surely we can apply it to our own situation.”
Rather than launching statewide, the Washington State Main Street Program began with a manageable pilot. In fall 2024, four communities participated in the first cohort. The goal was to establish a baseline and understand what using the Belonging Barometer could look like in a Main Street context. Alongside the survey, the team added historical research, site visits, and community interviews to better understand each downtown’s unique story and context.
Because belonging is deeply connected to place, they wanted the data to reflect more than survey scores alone.
“We leaned into the idea of place-based belonging,” Felty said. “What does it actually mean for people to feel like they belong in this specific downtown?”
Some of the most meaningful insights came from people’s stories. One participant described attending a sensory-friendly downtown parade with a grandchild who has autism. For that family, the event was evidence that the downtown had intentionally created an accessible space and experience where they felt welcome.
“That really stood out,” Felty said. “It was one of those moments where someone could genuinely say, ‘We belong here.'”
Stories like these helped reinforce something many community leaders already suspected: intentional programming can meaningfully shape whether people feel included.
The pilot confirmed one of the team’s initial hypotheses: people who were engaged with their local Main Street organizations generally reported a stronger sense of belonging. While the team recognizes it’s too early to draw broad causal conclusions, the findings provided important cues and a starting point.
More importantly, the process itself began changing conversations. Community partners and local organizations used the findings to rethink existing programs, asking who might still feel left out, how volunteers could feel more connected, and what small changes could make events even more welcoming.
“Even if the data doesn’t immediately tell you to do X, Y, or Z, having belonging in the collective consciousness changes the way people think,” Felty said. “It encourages organizations to make small adjustments and be more intentional about integrating resources that help people feel more connected.”
For Felty, one of the greatest strengths of the Belonging Barometer is that it helps organizations measure something many have long believed was important but couldn’t quantify.
“So often we’re measuring dollars, jobs, spending, or attendance,” she said. “Those are all important, but they only tell one part of the story.”
“Being able to measure belonging—being able to measure social impact—means we’re better able to create communities where people genuinely feel connected to each other and to the places they live. That’s the heart of the work.”
Following the success of the pilot, the Washington State Main Street Program is expanding to a second cohort of communities while continuing to learn alongside others using the Belonging Barometer. Felty encourages organizations not to wait until they have a perfect plan.
“The blueprint is already there,” she said. “You can pick it up, adapt it to your own context, and start learning.”
The Belonging Barometer offers organizations a practical starting point and a growing community of practitioners eager to share what they’re discovering. Because while every community looks different, the question is the same:
Do people feel like they belong here?
The first step toward answering that question is simply asking it.
Ready to get started?
Download the free Belonging Barometer Quick Start Guide and survey questions to begin measuring belonging in your community.
The post Measuring What Matters: How Washington Main Street Is Using the Belonging Barometer to Strengthen Downtown Communities appeared first on American Immigration Council.
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