Our Mission
On a national level, we are part of what is known as the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem – a large group of non-profit organizations working to address the many current problems in our civic and political culture. Our founder Ted Wetzel has been nationally-recognized for using Dinner and a Fight/Dialogue to help communities start to address local challenges. This article in the Christian Science Monitor describes Ted’s work in Northeast Ohio. Ted’s interest in improving our civic discourse and community problem solving stems from his deep concern about polarization in our society.
Starting in 2019, Ted interviewed over 200 people from Northeast Ohio. He found that our fellow citizens don’t like the polarization in our country, don’t like how polarization divides families and friends, and would very much like to relearn how to have productive disagreements and how to foster collaborative civic engagement. Spurred by these findings, Ted launched Fighting-to-Understand as a non-profit under Ohio law and as a 503(c)(3) Public Charity approved by the Internal Revenue Service. The name Fighting-to-Understand conveys the idea that it will be an ongoing struggle to regain the skills and attitudes needed to listen to our fellow citizens and work together despite our differences.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“A house divided cannot long endure”
Abraham Lincoln
Each of the more than 30 Dinner and a Fight/Dialogue Events (DaaF/D) we’ve conducted has achieved positive impacts. Participants have learned how to act together across divides, approach issue resolution from an emotionally-neutral place, and engage in community problem solving. The DaaF/D experience builds trust, develops civic engagement skills, and promotes the use of multiple divergent news sources. Culturally, the experience shifts the dynamics from fighting to exploring, from expert-driven to citizen-driven, and from a flight or fight mentality to seeking mutual understanding. In some cases, the ripple effects have been life altering, such as when skills learned at a DaaF/D event have been applied to heal rifts between family member or between friends. Based on these achievements, our journey is continuing with the goal of scaling the use of our Community Problem Solving techniques – such as DaaF/D – both locally and nationally.
We work in concert with libraries, interfaith groups, civic organizations, local media and PTAs. Our working partners in local media include Akron Beacon Journal, Ideastream Public Media, and Signal Akron. Additional key partners for our mission include the Akron Bar Association, Akron Community Foundation, Unify America, and Braver Angels of Northeast Ohio. To learn more about these initiatives, please email Ted Wetzel, or call him at 330-607-6829.