Adolescents' sense of well-being, achievement beliefs, and academic performance are linked to their belonging experiences in institutional settings—making belonging a developmental priority and psychological necessity for youth. The Opportunities to Belong framework, proposed by Gray and colleagues (2018), offers educators tools that can enable them to cultivate institutional opportunities to belong by providing youth time and space to address barriers and inequitable institutional conditions that ultimately devalue and restrict the leadership contributions of marginalized youth. Although some youth-serving institutions recognize that youth experiences should inform decision-making on institutional policies, there are few detailed examples and powerful illustrations of how such opportunities can be structured that are well documented in publicly accessible outlets.

Our hope is that this playbook will be helpful for decision-makers in youth-serving institutions to: (1) crystallize a working understanding of institutional opportunities to belong that can be applied to future policy and practice work; (2) integrate youths' subject-matter expertise and information resources into ongoing decision-making about educational policies and practices; (3) challenge existing assumptions about substantive youth engagement in leadership roles; and (4) identify liberating practices and approaches that can become cornerstones for future youth-led initiatives. We present a set of plays as a starting point for developing your own plays and effective practices that work in your community.