Our Manifesto

Dear Crisis, We see you. Everywhere. The exhaustion. The division. The feeling that something has fundamentally broken. You want us overwhelmed. Isolated. Frozen. But there are more of us than there are of you. And when we face you together — exhaustion becomes energy, division becomes community, and what's broken becomes the beginning.

About Dear Crisis

Dear Crisis is a community based in New York City for people who refuse to navigate the metacrisis alone. The metacrisis refers to the interconnected web of global challenges — climate change, political polarization, institutional decay, economic inequality, loneliness, and the erosion of trust — that define our era. Rather than treating these as separate problems, Dear Crisis brings people together in person to make sense of it all, build meaningful relationships, and take collective action.

Founded by Benjamin Von Wong and a growing network of collaborators, Dear Crisis hosts monthly Metacrisis Salons in Brooklyn, creative incubators called The Deepening, and community-generated gatherings. We believe the antidote to overwhelm is not more information — it's meaningful relationship. We believe that when people come together in the same room, crisis becomes a starting point rather than an endpoint.

Dear Crisis is not an organization. It's not a brand. It's a community of people in New York City who showed up.

What is the Metacrisis?

The metacrisis is a term used to describe the interconnected nature of the many crises facing humanity today. Unlike individual challenges like climate change, economic inequality, or political polarization, the metacrisis recognizes that these problems share root causes — extractive economic systems, institutional decay, epistemic breakdown, and the erosion of social trust. The metacrisis framework, developed by thinkers like Daniel Schmachtenberger, suggests that solving any one crisis in isolation is insufficient. Instead, we need to address the underlying patterns that generate crises: coordination failures, misaligned incentives, and the breakdown of collective sensemaking. Dear Crisis offers a space in New York City to explore these interconnected challenges together, in person, through salons, creative incubators, and community gatherings.

Our Gatherings

Metacrisis Salons

Monthly gatherings to make sense of it all. Each month we pick a thread — polarization, capitalism, artificial intelligence, democracy — and pull on it together. Speakers bring the spark. Breakouts bring the depth. You bring yourself. ~60 people, $15, Brooklyn, food included, speakers and breakouts.

The Deepening

A Sunday creative incubator for people who'd rather build the next world than doomscroll this one. Pitch an idea. Find your team. Make something real by sundown. Free, Sundays, team-based building sprints.

Community-Generated Events

Movie nights, meditation circles, park hangs, book clubs, skill shares — if it builds connection, we're in. This is your invitation to host something.

Join the Dear Crisis Community in NYC

Dear Crisis is based in New York City. Join our WhatsApp communities to connect with others navigating the metacrisis. Attend a Metacrisis Salon in Brooklyn or a Deepening creative session in the East Village. Contact hi@vonwong.com to get involved, host an event, or collaborate.