For every topic our reporters cover, there are numerous people in the community whose perspective and expertise could enrich the conversation. Building on the strong reporting from our staff, Ideas & Voices then leads discussion and debate about how the Dayton region gets better, focusing on:
- Championing this region’s efforts to build a vibrant, equitable community
- Leading conversations toward solutions
- Giving a wide variety of voices opportunity to speak
- Holding our region’s political and major institutions’ leaders accountable
It has been a pleasure working with our contributors over the past year to bring you a variety of perspectives on issues important to our communities. And 2024 had an abundance of phenomenal submissions.
A year of important ideas
In February, we celebrated our region’s contributions to the Afrofuturism arts movement with contributed columnists such as UC Berkley guest speaker Rickey Vincent, DCDC dancer and choreographer Countess Winfrey and many others.
For the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, contributors discussed the state of segregation in our communities, the phenomenon of “resegregation,” and what we can do to address the longstanding issue.
2024 marked the fifth anniversary of the horrific Oregon District mass shooting. The artists behind the “Seed of Life” memorial shared their experience working with the community to create the installation that honors the nine victims.
Earlier in the year, our Behind the Badge investigation explored the state of police training, recruitment and more. We heard from several students at Sinclair’s Police Academy, including Chol Chol, originally from South Sudan, talk about their decision to go into law enforcement.
Our Mental Health Matters: Kids in Crisis investigation this year revealed an alarming increase in teen suicides and other youth mental health issues. In Ideas & Voices, a number of area students discussed their concerns about mental health and what changes they hope can be made.
2024 was, of course, a pivotal election year. Issue 1 was defeated in November, but it prompted heated discussion throughout the year and we heard from supporters and detractors in columns and letters to the editor. Springfield was unwillingly thrust into the national spotlight after the September presidential debate where Donald Trump repeated a debunked rumor that Haitian migrants in the city were eating pets. In the aftermath, numerous bomb threats closed government offices and schools. We received a large number of letters in support of our communities from people all over the country. From Amherst, Massachusetts to Sacramento, California, Americans were eager to submit letters, photos and and even poems to show support for the residents of Springfield.
Contributors presented solutions to any number of challenges our region faces. From Sophia Lopez, a junior at Cedarville High School who started The Champion City Spelling Bee, an all-age competition that debuted this June in Springfield, to Donna Kastner, a Del Mar Encore Fellow with The Dayton Foundation who wrote about the steps our communities can take to make our region more age-friendly for all.
Your opinion matters
I was born and raised in this community and I’m deeply committed to seeing it succeed. It is my pleasure to continue to serve you as the Community Impact Editor and to convene important discussions on issues that we can solve together.
Our community has problems that need fixing and no one understands them better than the curious, informed and engaged readers of Ideas & Voices.
In a polarized world full of seemingly intractable problems, I believe spaces such as Ideas & Voices are the best way to build consensus at the local level toward solutions that benefit us all as neighbors, no matter your political ideology or background.
Think about a problem that affects you and your neighborhood and see if you can come up with a novel way of solving it. Talk to your friends, family and neighbors to find out what their concerns are or brainstorm potential solutions with them.
Hopefully, reading Ideas & Voices each day leaves you feeling a little more empowered and less frustrated by the enormity of the issues we face.
I look forward to working with you in 2025 and can’t wait to read your submissions. In today’s Ideas & Voices, learn more about the different ways you can engage with the Dayton Daily News and the Ideas & Voices section.
Thank you,
Nick Hrkman
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Learn more about the different ways you can engage with the Dayton Daily News and the Ideas & Voices section.
What makes a good contributed column?
Creating an opinion piece that motivates strangers to act is no small task. A good contributed column takes reported facts and research and builds momentum toward action. If you know of a topic has not been reported on that you believe is newsworthy, contact our newsroom at ddnnews@coxinc.com or call (937) 610-7502. Ideas & Voices is not the place to report news — it’s a place to discuss the news.
For Ideas & Voices, we look for submissions that:
- Identify a problem in our communities
- Explain the importance of this problem and how readers in our region might be affected by it
- Propose solutions
- Offer clear action steps that allow our audiences to be a part of those solutions
In Ideas & Voices, we emphasize the importance of local issues in our contributed columns, or at least finding a way to localize national or global issues.
Be prepared to revise and answer questions about your submission. Submissions are fact-checked for accuracy, and editors will often have questions about specific claims or suggestions for how to improve elements of the submission. All claims in your piece should be substantiated by a source, and you should provide links to those sources. And don’t feel bad if your first draft isn’t immediately accepted — many submissions require multiple rounds of revision before they are ready to be published.
Do you have a photograph, video or graphic that can accompany the piece? Contributing multimedia elements with your submission can make it much more compelling for readers.
Not sure if you want to write a full 500-word submission without knowing if it’s a good fit? Email your proposed topic to edletter@coxinc.com and we will let you know if we are interested or how we can make it work.
You can submit the contributed column in the body of the email as a Word document attachment or you can share a link to a Google Doc (please allow commenting permissions). All submissions will also require a recent headshot of the contributor and a short, one-line bio that tells readers about themselves.
Note: The Dayton Daily News does not require exclusive rights to any submitted Ideas & Voices pieces. That means you retain rights to the submission and can choose to publish it elsewhere — assuming that publisher does not require exclusive rights to it.
What makes a good Letter to the Editor?
Our Letters to the Editor are generally collected and published once a week, based on the volume and quality of submissions we receive. Letters to the Editor are short, focused submissions that quickly address a single topic. They can run up to 250 words in length.
Letters to the Editor can respond to specific issues in stories we’ve reported, other contributed columns or syndicated columnists. They’re a quick and easy way to add your perspective to the discussion of any topic.
10 ways to engage with us
1. Share your thoughts with our Ideas and Voices page by sending an email to edletter@coxinc.com. You can write a Letter to the Editor with your opinion on an issue (250 words or less) or submit a guest column (500 to 600 words). You can submit the contributed column in the body of the email, as a Word document attachment or you can share a link to a Google Doc (please allow commenting permissions).
2. If you see or hear about something you think is newsworthy, connect with the newsroom at ddnnews@coxinc.com, or call (937) 610-7502.
3. If you learn about something you think our investigative reporting team should dig into, you can submit an anonymous news tip using the online form found on our website.
4. Have an upcoming event? Get it on the Dayton.com events calendar.
5. Looking for a specific reporter? Find our newsroom staff listing on our website.
6. To learn how our advertising staff can elevate the reach of your product or organization across the community, visit our website for a list of contact information and answers to other frequently asked questions.
7. Help us help you. We want to know if you are having issues with your circulation or accessing our digital products. You can call customer service 888-397-6397. If it’s after hours, there are many ways to manage your account online at My Account or use our self-automated phone system. You can also email customer service representatives at customercare@daytondailynews.com. Someone will respond within 48 hours.
8. Sign up for email newsletters. We offer a bunch of free, regular newsletters on a number of different topics (local sports, history, business, etc.). Check out the options on our website.
9. Follow our reporting on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Follow Community Impact Editor Nick Hrkman on Twitter at @NickHrkmanDDN and Facebook at facebook.com/NickHrkmanDDN. You can view all of our Ideas & Voices contributed content on daytondailynews.com/ideas-voices and via our e-paper.
10. Visit Dayton.com or follow it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest on what to know, love and do in the Miami Valley.
Let us know how we’re doing
Your feedback is important to us — Ideas & Voices is all about opinions. We are committed to local solutions, representing diverse perspectives and to a fair and balanced approach to all of our topics.
Do you feel that we missed an important perspective in our coverage? Was a topic not covered fairly? Is there an issue you feel deserves discussion? Email edletter@coxinc.com or nick.hrkman@coxinc.com with your concerns and comments. If you disagree with a contributor, we invite you to submit on the same topic to offer your perspective.
And we love to hear back from our contributors. Let us know if the publication of your submission led to any developments in your proposed solution or if you’d like to contribute again.
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