A student-led movement

The Civity Club.

Civity Club is where high schoolers practice talking across political, cultural, and personal divides.

$100Funding per chapter head
45 minEvery other week
1:1Coaching with Civity
The Idea

A new type of discourse.

Civity Club practices discourse in a way that's different from the adversarial format of debate clubs or the echo chambers of politics clubs.

01

Person before position

Members answer the same personal prompt. The "faceless opponent" becomes a familiar, relatable human being.

02

Understanding, not winning

We discuss contentious issues that matter to high schoolers, focused on understanding the other's view.

03

Small groups, real talk

No group-wide debates, no long lectures. Just short exercises and breakout discussions of two or three.

The Civity Method

Hard conversations made possible by relationships.

Chapters practice building relationships and then disagreeing respectfully. Norms are read outloud before every meeting. Each chapter builds upon these four to make them their own.

Walk through a meeting
  • 1

    Share airtime

  • 2

    Be curious before pushing back

  • 3

    Challenge ideas, never people

  • 4

    No ad hominem

How a meeting works

45 minutes, every time.

0–5 min

Welcome & ground rules

The facilitator restates the norms and names the topics of discussion for the day.

5–10 min

Intros & icebreaker

A quick share around the circle to get everyone talking and warmed up.

10–20 min

Breakout: get personal

Groups of 2–3 answer a question that reveals a "level 4–5 out of 10" about who someone really is.

20–35 min

Breakout: lean into disagreement

Same groups pick a topic where they disagree and discuss with respect. Focus is on understanding the other perspective.

35–45 min

Whole group: what we learned

Everyone shares one thing they came to understand about the opposing viewpoint from their breakout.

The Environment

A space that feels familiar.

The Civity Club is where you come to relax and engage freely with fellow classmates. There is no judgement or pressure.

Low commitment

Drop in every other week, come as you are. There's no homework and no experience required. The Civity Club is space where everyone belongs and is heard from day one.

You choose what to talk about

Have something on your mind? If it matters to you, it's fair game. Heads give topic guidance, but members suggest ideas at the end of each meeting, and decide what to discuss in breakouts.

Rooted in your school

Civity is about building a real community across your whole school. Chapters are encouraged to take on the questions and tensions relevant to their own student body, not just headlines.

Chapter funding

We back every chapter we start.

Every new club head receives $100 in club funding to get their chapter off the ground. Used for snacks, supplies, and whatever else helps get the conversation going.

$100per chapter head
Start a chapter

Bring Civity to your school in 3 steps.

Chapters grow one student at a time. We need you to join the movement.

Decide to lead

Apply to become a chapter head. We recruit one motivated student at a time. No experience required.

Get trained by Civity

Join a dedicated training meeting run by Malka and Palma, Civity founders. You'll learn the method firsthand.

Launch with funding

Receive your $100 in startup funding. Recruit your first members. Hold your first 45-minute meeting using the ready-made format.

Apply to be a chapter head →
Questions

Good things to know.

Not at all. Civity is about the skill of disagreeing well. Discussion topics are contentious issues relevant to high schoolers, but not politically divisive.

Meetings are 45 minutes, every other week. Because every meeting follows the same clear format, prep is light once you've been trained.

It's startup money for your chapter that helps you gather members and create a warm environment with snacks and drinks. Every chapter head recieves it.

The opposite. There are no group-wide debates and no lectures. The goal is to understand the other person's perspective and reduce animosity, never to win an argument or force agreement.

No Problem. Civity clubs are about creating welcoming communities of productive discourse. Civity clubs aren't high commitment activities that will compete with existing clubs.