Debating for Democracy (D4D)™ is a series of distinctive campus-based programs that represents the mission of Project Pericles in action: D4D Letters to an Elected Official Competition, D4D National Conference, D4D on the Road™ workshops, and a number of co-curricular programs. D4D promotes civic engagement and effective advocacy skills among a wide range of students. Students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to advance their issues and to get their messages across to elected officials, fellow students, community groups, and the media.

Students have undertaken significant campaigns and projects:
  • A Pace University team led a successful campaign to protect the Hudson River against the threat of oil spills forcing the United States Coast Guard to rescind planned dock sites for oil tankers.
  • A Bates College student testified before the Maine Legislature about the need to provide aid for asylum-seekers. A student team created a public service announcement to introduce Mainers to the stories of asylum-seekers.
  • Carleton College students ran youth empowerment workshops for local high school students, who went on to develop an active school reform campaign of their own.
  • Many students have met with their elected officials and congressional staff members as well as organized campaigns in support of the DREAM ACT, mountaintop-removal coal mining, Net Neutrality, and the Violence Against Women Act, among others.​

D4D Programs

D4D On The Road
​The D4D on the Road workshops hosted at Periclean colleges and universities provide training in leadership development, media strategy, coalition building, and effective messaging. In addition to their own students and staff, hosting Periclean campuses around the country welcome students from other local colleges and universities as well as community members. Using our carefully designed model, advocacy experts empower students, faculty, staff, and community members to advance their particular issue or cause. Participants identify new strategies for making change, practice developing and delivering an effective advocacy message, and build relationships to support and sustain their work.

Since 2008, Project Pericles has trained more than 3,400 participants at Periclean colleges and universities across the United States. All of the Periclean campuses have participated in D4D on the Road. Through these day-long workshops, participants learn to work within the democratic processes to improve the condition of society. Utilizing a series of dynamic exercises, participants learn strategies for developing effective messages, critically analyzing the opposition's message, and the importance of thoroughly understanding their target audiences.

Project Pericles appreciates the generous support of  the Eugene M. Lang Foundation and our Periclean colleges and universities for supporting the 2020-2021 D4D on the Road workshops. Previous funders have included The Henry Luce Foundation and The Spencer Foundation.
D4D National Conference
​At the D4D National Conference, student leaders from Periclean campuses across the country are joined by college presidents, faculty, foundation representatives, government officials, community leaders, and members of the media to participate in a series of panels and workshops with leading experts on civic engagement, education, the environment, journalism, social entrepreneurship, and public policy. 

The National Conference features a Legislative Hearing in which teams of students compete for $5,000 in prize money that is used to develop advocacy and educational campaigns around critical issues. Project Pericles designed the conference to provide students with concrete steps they can take to move the issue they wrote about, and other issues, forward. Students are encouraged and expected to return to their campuses and advance civic and political engagement among their classmates.
Above are highlights from the 2019 D4D Legislative Hearing, a highlights of the D4D National Conference.  Macalester College, Pitzer College, Swarthmore College, Ursinus College, and Whitman College, did an excellent job at the Legislative Hearing discussing their policy proposals.
​The 2019 D4D National Conference was hosted by Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in New York City on March 28 and 29, 2019. The conference agenda is available here.  

Conference presenters have included:​
  • Emily Badger, Staff Writer, The Washington Post
  • Carol Browner, former EPA Administrator
  • Jeffrey Clements, Author of Corporations Are Not People
  • Ami Dar, Founder and Executive Director, Idealist.org
  • Thomas J. Downey, former U.S. Congressman (D-NY)
  • DeNora Getachew, New York Executive Director, Generation Citizen
  • Rajeev K. Goyal, Author of The Springs of Namje: A Ten-Year Journey from the Villages of Nepal to the Halls of Congress
  • Jacob S. Hacker, Author of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
  • Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate
  • Michael S. McPherson, President, Spencer Foundation
  • Constance Berry Newman, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
  • Kurt L. Schmoke, former Mayor of Baltimore, MD
  • Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief, BuzzFeed
  • Nadine Strossen, Author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship and Former President, ACLU
  • Harris L. Wofford, former U.S. Senator (D-PA)
​Project Pericles appreciates the generous support of  the Eugene M. Lang Foundation and our Periclean colleges and universities for supporting the 2019 D4D National Conference. Previous funders have included Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation.
D4D Letter To An Elected Official Competition
​The D4D Letter to an Elected Official Competition engages students around public policy issues, the political process, and with their elected officials. Since 2008, hundreds of teams from Periclean colleges and universities have participated in this competition. In addition to writing a letter to an elected official, we ask students to share a project proposal about how they would use their award. Every year, a panel of judges with significant legislative experience select winning letters written by teams of students. Project Pericles awards prizes to the winning student teams to support their efforts in moving their issues forward locally and nationally. 

The 2023 letters proposed innovative solutions on a wide variety of issues ranging from policing to education access, and from voting rights to reproductive healthcare. The letters were sent to elected officials throughout the United States. 

We look forward to working with the finalist teams of the 2023 D4D Letters to an Elected Official Competition throughout the 2023-2024 academic year. 

Outstanding Submissions from the Spring 2023 Competition: 
  • Swarthmore College, "A Letter Urging the Repeal of Closed Primaries" to Jared Solomon (D-PA) by Harry Hou ('25) and Danika Grieser ('26). 
  • Ursinus College, "A Letter Opposing a Ban on Federal Funding for Higher Education Institutions Providing Abortion Services" to Bob Casey (D-PA) by Alicia Bubka ('25) and Kathryn Horan ('25). 
  • Wagner College, "A Letter Opposing S.62 No Taxpayer Funding for Women Healthcare" to Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) by Frozan Tahiry ('24) and Lily Schaffer ('24).

For more information about the D4D Letters to an Elected Official Competition, please see the 2024 RFP.
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