What We Provide
Two Methods Toward One Mission
CDCA's work has two distinct aims, and both are essential to the same larger goal.
01
Club Expansion
We provide high school students with everything they need to start a CDCA-affiliated politics club at their school.
This means a starter kit and ongoing support from the CDCA network. A CDCA club is a unique community that embraces curiosity, finding common ground, and challenging biases.
02
Leader Training
Many students already lead political discussion clubs at their schools, but most were never taught how to facilitate a truly productive, civil discussion.
CDCA's training program addresses that gap directly. We train student leaders in the specific skills that make hard conversations productive.
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Our Purpose
What is CDCA?
Civil Dialogue Clubs of America (CDCA) empowers high school students to build nonpartisan political discussion communities where disagreement is approached with curiosity, respect, and intellectual humility. Founded on the belief that America's growing political polarization is fueled by a lack of meaningful conversation across differences, CDCA works to ensure that students learn how to engage with opposing viewpoints before those divides become entrenched.
We equip student leaders with everything they need to build and lead these communities, including a comprehensive starter kit, discussion guides, facilitation training, and ongoing support from the CDCA network. By giving students the tools to lead productive conversations on difficult issues, the CDCA is helping develop a generation better prepared to strengthen civic culture and American democracy.
The Principles Behind Every Club
What We Believe
⚖️
Non-partisanship
Every CDCA club remains strictly nonpartisan, creating a space where students of every political perspective can contribute and learn from one another.
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Civil Discourse
Disagreement is healthy. Disrespect is not. Every CDCA club commits to a standard of engagement where ideas are challenged, instead of the people.
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All Perspectives Welcome
We encourage students to share their viewpoints, regardless of their political beliefs, and we welcome members of all political orientations to the table.
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Challenging Biases
We ask club members to engage with the strongest versions of the arguments they disagree with and challenge their biases and assumptions.
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Finding Common Ground
Every CDCA club strives to identify shared values and common goals, recognizing that meaningful progress is built on shared purpose.
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Keeping an Open Mind
Discussions are approached with intellectual humility, with members willing to question assumptions and change their views when the evidence warrants it.
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Meet the Founder
The Story Behind CDCA
Benjy Zhurbin
Founder & Executive Director
I became increasingly frustrated by how divided our country has become, and I came to believe that much of that division stems from a simple problem: people with opposing viewpoints rarely talk to one another. Without meaningful conversation, political disagreement too often turns into political hostility. Convinced that young people could help change this, I began organizing informal political discussions among my friends—not to persuade them to adopt my views, but to expose everyone, including myself, to perspectives we might never otherwise encounter.
As those conversations grew, I founded my school's first-ever nonpartisan politics club, built on the principles of civil discourse, intellectual curiosity, and respect for every viewpoint. The club has since become the largest at the school, bringing together students from across the political spectrum and demonstrating that constructive disagreement can strengthen rather than divide a community. Seeing the impact of that model inspired me to found the Civil Dialogue Clubs of America Project, with the goal of making these conversations possible in high schools across the country.