Voting is only one way to make your voice heard. Rally your community with Ideas & Voices.

Your passion is important

A strong reaction to the election is likely because you care about the people and places around you. Whether Tuesday’s outcome left you crushed or hopeful, I encourage you to channel that emotion into action.

If you’re worried or scared for the future, you might find it helpful to be more engaged with the community around you and that finding like-minded people can help you realize your vision for a better world. Consider volunteering for an organization aligned with your values, joining or starting a book or reading group to help better understand a topic you care about, or even running for office.

Dozens of Ohio candidates in this last election cycle ran unopposed, even in key races. In Miami, Greene, Warren and Preble counties, there was exactly one contested race out of 40 — and that’s only because the sitting Miami County Recorder resigned suddenly near the election filing date to take another job.

“Competition can create discussions about important issues and can force candidates to think about the strengths of their beliefs and policies,” said Lee Hannah, professor of political science at Wright State University. “Competition can force an incumbent to pay attention to an issue that their challenger brought up.”

And if you were happy with how the election turned out, those newly elected officials are counting on you for continued support. Democracy doesn’t begin and end on election day. If you voted for change, it’s more likely to happen with your involvement. Advocate for the policies your representatives promised to enact — and hold them accountable if they don’t deliver.

No matter what you choose to do, remember that you are an important member of our community and others can likely benefit from hearing your perspective. If you’re passionate about change, I challenge you to do something about it. As editor of the Ideas & Voices section, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing engaged, informed contributors turn their opinions into impactful action.

Take care of yourself

Remember that you can’t help others without first taking care of your own needs. The election was stressful for everyone, and that stress was in addition to the daily mental health burdens our reporting has identified in our ongoing Mental Health Matters series.

Richard Campbell, professor emeritus of Media, Journalism & Film at Miami University, wrote last week about “mean world syndrome,” a concept that suggests people who consume a lot of violent programming experience more anxiety, fear and pessimism. To address this, he re-examined the news he was consuming and turned to his passion for music. He cited a 2024 University of Michigan study found enormous benefits from listening to music. A majority of those polled in the study reported that music brought joy, improved their mental health, mood or attitude, and motivated or energized them.

Take time for yourself to decompress. We recently wrote about different wellness experiences in our region for those who may want to try something new. Yoga, Qigong, boxing or even goat cuddling can help relieve months of pent-up, election-related tension.

You aren’t alone

Hopefully, reading Ideas & Voices each day leaves you feeling a little more empowered and less frustrated by the enormity of the issues we face. Reading from people in our region — your neighbors — discuss the issues important to them might inspire you to join them in addressing those issues, or to submit a contributed column of your own.

In my three years in this role, I’ve learned that no one is better equipped to help solve the many problems our region faces than the caring, curious, informed and engaged readers of the Dayton Daily News.

Thank you for your readership and I look forward to working with you to make our communities stronger, safer and more welcoming.

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:

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.