Present and Defend: Building Inclusive Engagement

This session of The Belonging Project features JoPat, a public-facing, present-and-defend advocacy format designed to support real-world civic decision-making. Student teams deliver a clear briefing on a live policy issue - what’s happening, what they recommend, and why - before judges challenge the proposal’s evidence, feasibility, tradeoffs, and impacts.

Unlike traditional debates, teams strengthen their own cases by incorporating elements of their opponents’ arguments, and the audience plays an active role through open Q&A with community stakeholders.

Judges evaluate teams on clarity, credibility, and decision-usefulness: how well they explain complex issues, respond to tough questions, and balance costs and benefits. The result is an accessible, engaging event that models public debate at its best - informed, collaborative, and grounded in practical reasoning.