On Tuesday I spoke at a civic event in Pueblo, Colorado, sponsored by the Pueblo Human Relations Commission. According to an article in the Pueblo Chieftain, the commission noticed that “anger and fear are up and voter participation is down,” and they wanted to do something to reverse this trend.

The commission started a “Word Work” initiative to reduce polarization in the community and to help people find common ground. My talk about recognizing media bias was the culminating event in this initiative.

Because of what we do at Ad Fontes Media, I get to hear about groups doing this kind of on-the-ground work all the time. There are a lot of them. In communities across the country, leaders are providing media and civic education and forums for reasonable people with differing political views to come together.

I’ve spoken at several of these events over the years at venues including Rotary conferences and universities, and even more of them reach out to request use of our materials. Organizations like Starts With Us, Braver Angels and League of Women Voters do this kind of work, as do so many local city governments, libraries, museums, and more.

Just hearing from these groups and knowing so many are out there gives me a lot of hope for our future. I wanted to remind you that they exist, because the insane national news cycle tends to make us all feel hopelessly divided. Our future is determined by what we focus on and work toward.

Across the pond in London, Lou Paskalis, chief strategy officer of Ad Fontes Media, will lead a panel presentation today at “The Future of News” forum. The discussion will focus on “Why News Works for Brands” and will include some of the advertising industry’s biggest thought leaders.

For a few years now, Ad Fontes has been partnering with groups like Stagwell, the sponsor of “The Future of News” summit, to advocate that brands return their advertising dollars to news. It makes good business sense for the advertisers. But it’s also a positive step for society. Remember, advertising allows news publishers to make journalism available to everyone, including those who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

All of us at Ad Fontes Media are excited to play a small part in this global effort, along with publishers and institutions who are on the front lines of the war for truth and recognize what’s at stake for democracy and society if we falter.

All day every day, our analysts rate the news so that we can help you, as a news consumer, to better navigate the media landscape. But it’s important to remember that our work is the foundation to our overall mission to rate the news to positively transform society. It’s so much bigger than us, and I’m proud to be a part of it.