Your City Is Calling. Let’s Answer It Together.
Lately, I’ve felt a kind of unsettledness that seems increasingly universal. We’re endlessly informed, yet strangely unanchored. Surrounded by noise, but starved for clarity on what we can actually do.
The headlines are relentless. The stakes always feel existential. And yet, when we look up from our phones and newsfeeds, many of us don’t even know what’s happening on our own block.
That’s what finally got to me.
Not just the overload of information, but the distance it creates. The way it pulls us away from the places and people right in front of us. The way it numbs us to what’s still possible, still alive, still within reach.
Because beneath the fear, the fatigue, and the distraction, local civic life still endures. It lives in city councils and community boards. In nonprofits, mutual aid circles, public libraries, parks, theaters, and classrooms. It’s not always loud. It’s not always glamorous. But it’s real. And it needs us.
The truth is, most people do want to help. To feel useful. To be part of something that matters. But it’s hard to know where to begin. Especially when no one ever shows you how.
At the same time, our local nonprofits and cultural institutions are almost always stretched thin. I know this not just in theory, but from experience. I’ve spent years in these spaces—on boards, behind the scenes, and alongside people doing extraordinary, often invisible work. And again and again, I see the same pattern: the organizations most essential to our urban fabric and quality of life are often the ones quietly struggling to stay afloat.
That disconnect—the desire to help, and the difficulty finding a way in—has never sat right with me.
It’s what led me to build Citizenry.
It’s a nonprofit civic matchmaking tool designed to help people reconnect—to their communities, their sense of purpose, and to each other. Citizenry offers direction. It makes local engagement feel intuitive, personal, and full of possibility.
Whether that means joining a nonprofit board, mentoring a young person, supporting the arts, or simply learning who represents your district—it can helps people take that first step with clarity and confidence.
But this isn’t just about volunteering your time or skills. It’s about reclaiming agency. Remembering what it means to belong somewhere—not online, but in real life. Maybe even rediscovering parts of yourself you didn’t realize had gone quiet.
Citizenry is a path back to purpose. A spark of civic pride. A way to make local life feel vibrant again—like something you get to shape, not something that happens without you.
Because civic life is so much more than politics. It’s culture. Creativity. Curiosity. It’s showing up for something that stirs something in you. It’s helping build the future of the place you call home.
So this is your invitation.
To stop doomscrolling. To start belonging. To discover the organizations that need you (and the ones you didn’t know you needed too).
To take one step closer to the version of yourself that feels fully alive, connected, proud.
This isn’t about saving the world. It’s about falling back in love with your corner of it.
-Dominic Ramos-Ruiz, Founder, Citizenry
