Boilerplate

Short (25 words). JFK Debate is a non-partisan US platform for structured public debate on local decisions, with town hall calendars, citizen initiatives and a local government directory.

Long (75 words). JFK Debate — Justice, Freedom, Knowledge — is an independent, non-partisan civic technology platform that makes local government decisions visible and debatable before they are made. Every debate follows a fixed structure: a proposition a named body can decide, neutral context, arguments for and against with required sources, a community vote and the recorded outcome. The platform also publishes public meeting schedules, a citizen initiative pipeline and a local government directory covering the largest US cities.

The organization is not affiliated with any government agency, political party or candidate, or with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Media contact

[email protected] — we answer same day where possible. For factual corrections to our own content, use [email protected].

What we can speak about

  • Why participation in local government is low, and what actually changes it
  • Public meeting access, open meetings laws and public comment rules
  • Petition, initiative and referendum processes and how they differ by state
  • Designing online debate that rewards evidence rather than volume
  • Moderation and fact-checking at small scale, and where it breaks down
  • Local government data: what cities publish, what they do not, and why it matters

What we will not do

We do not comment on the merits of individual candidates, parties or ballot measures, we do not provide “both sides” quotes for political stories, and we do not share user data with anyone, including journalists.

Assets

Brand colors: navy #0b1d3a, gold #c8962e, white #ffffff. Please do not recolor, stretch or add effects to the logo, and do not use it in a way that implies endorsement.

For newsrooms

Local newsrooms can host a structured debate alongside their reporting and embed our meeting and directory data — see for organizations. Non-commercial reuse of our directory data by newsrooms in communities we cover is free with attribution; write to [email protected].

Usage of our content

Our articles and debate summaries may be quoted with attribution and a link. Republication of full articles requires permission. Photographs are licensed from their authors via Unsplash and are not ours to sublicense — see credits.