I want to say something to our readers and supporters here at Civic News Company about last week’s presidential election. Regardless of how you voted, many of us are currently united in the sense that our politics are broken — and that our country may not be able to meet the challenges we face.

I think we can. But to get there, we need to fix something that goes deeper than politics. We must repair the fabric of our civic life.

Healthy civic exchanges between diverse American communities – real, not virtual, communities – have been fraying for decades. But this erosion has sparked a counterforce, a nascent movement for civic renewal. People are trading toxic shouting for real conversations. Communities that cross divisions. Journalists like us create media outlets like Chalkbeat, Votebeat and Healthbeat, where people can get trusted reporting on issues in their communities, disregarding polarization and misinformation.

The truth is that when Americans have the tools to work on real issues in their local communities, they solve problems and create healthier policy. They become what we at Civic News Company call “civic catalysts.” They show up at public meetings; they create organizations; they run for office.

We saw this in our work at Civic News Company during the Trump and Biden years. We’ve seen ordinary citizens take steps to strengthen the integrity of their county’s elections after Votebeat reported on proposed or actual changes. We’ve seen parents and students become aware, through Chalkbeat, of well-intentioned changes in education laws gone wrong and work to overturn them. In many cases, we saw Republicans and Democrats working together, changing course when reporting from Chalkbeat and Votebeat showed them that their actions were harming fair voting or local schools.

We need many more civic catalysts. Because whether you find the potential policies of the second Trump administration exciting or terrifying, you must see that our country faces difficult challenges. We will have to consider and follow Trump’s explosive policies as they shape life in real communities, from promised evictions to his proposal to eliminate the Department of Education to the possibility of a vaccine. -skeptic holds the highest public health position in the country.

Trump aside, schools face a “educational depression”: Student achievement declined for the first time in decades (a trend that actually predated COVID). Since Civic News Company began reporting on public health with the launch of Healthbeat this summer, we’ve learned that many experts view another pandemic not as an if but a when. Meanwhile, our public health system remains unprepared and, on top of that, faces a public health skeptic in the new president.

The pillars of our democracy that we have been fortunate to take for granted now require vigilant attention. The American electoral system has been put to the test and, although it emerged stronger, he is nevertheless prey to mistrust. The January 6 attack and two recent assassination attempts against President-elect Trump show a growing trend of political violence. And our media is corrupted by disinformation, magical thinking, foreign interference and a fourth estate reduced by both diminishing economic prospects and declining credibility.

Faced with these challenges, we cannot give up. You have to enter the arena. As you, our readers and supporters, already do.

You support organizations like ours by voting for a healthier democracy.

And you are civic catalysts yourselves.

You are teachers, young people and parents who are not only looking out for your own interests, but asking what is happening in your community and what you can do to help. You are voters, election officials, and poll workers who monitor democracy’s most precious system and take action if any law or policy threatens it. You are community leaders working to improve the health of your neighbors.

You are the reason I know we can put the toxicity aside and start solving the big problems we face. And you inspire me to be my own civic catalyst, in the best way I know how: by doing everything in my power to keep Chalkbeat, Votebeat, and Healthbeat strong. With your support, we can help make this country a better place, one local issue at a time.

Elizabeth Green is the founder and CEO of Civic News Company.