The 2004 pilot project of CAD is housed at Benjamin S. Carson Middle School. It targets one hundred students who live in the Atlanta Housing Authority’s Bowen Homes or Hollywood Court Apartments and who attend middle school at Carson. Students begin the project by attending an intensive, two-week long, full-day workshop to learn the fundamentals of competitive debate. They learn skills such as on-line research gathering, the construction of persuasive oral arguments, the effective use of Power-Point presentations, and strategies for critically analyzing various policy and value claims.

During the regular school year, participants start every day after school by enjoying the Boys & Girls Club’s Power Hour. Staffed by Boys & Girls Club professional staff, the Power Hour ensures that each student remembers that completion of classroom assignments remains the first and most important priority. The program consists of homework help, tutoring, and enrichment work. Through participation in Power Hour, and completion of homework assignments and enrichment programs, members earn “Power Points” which can be “spent” to acquire items and to participate in special field trips and other incentives.

For the next two and a half hours, participants rotate through a variety of programming stations. CAD’s goal is to have students spend no longer than twenty minutes engaging in any one activity in hopes of keeping both interest and productivity high. A fundamental belief of all of CAD’s partners is that learning should be both challenging and fun!

Much of the students’ time is spent working with faculty and students from Emory University and Georgia State University who come to Carson to strengthen the participants’ various debating skills (i.e. research, computer proficiency, argument construction, organization, evidence analysis, critical thinking, and oral communication).
At times, this instruction occurs in mock classes or small groups; at others, it involves intensive one-on-one coaching.

When the students are not directly participating in the debate portion of the program, they receive educational and recreational activities under the Boys & Girl’s Club Project Learn strategy. Project Learn involves activities that are fun and engaging, while providing cognitive and academic skill development that young people need for their own success.

Once a month during the school year, students in the CAD program compete in an intra-school debate tournament. Judges for the competition come from the community – some are college students, some are community leaders, and some are interested parents. The website keeps a running tally of competition’s results, successful students receive awards, and incentives for unique participation opportunities are built into the program for students who demonstrate certain masteries of college application processes.