NAUDL Holds UDL Directors Training Conference

Urban debate Directors and Advisory Board Members from UDLs that the NAUDL is either building or helping re-build (“institutionalizing,” in the technical parlance) convened in Chicago earlier this month.  The following urban debate Directors and Advisory Board members participated:  Andrew Brokos from Boston, Kason Kimberly from Dallas, Margaret Lin from Denver, Christina Bell from Detroit, and Kathy Gregory from St. Louis.  Dave Denomie, the Director of the Milwaukee Urban Debate League, also attended all sessions of the workshop and substantially contributed to the proceedings.  The Open Society Institute, through a grant the NAUDL received last year, provided the funding.

At the two-day conference, these new and experienced urban debate leaders heard presentations from NAUDL staff about organization infrastructure and best practices in League building.  These leaders also shared with each other their own experiences, including their main challenges and ideas for how best to overcome them.  All discussed ways to establish local Advisory Boards and to best engage school districts in UDLs.   

Says Boston Urban Debate League Director, Andrew Brokos: “I was delighted to participate in the NAUDL’s Director Conference.  The urban debate field has a genuine need for this kind of national conferencing.  Knowing how to build an Urban Debate League is not a project that can be learned online or in a book, and I wanted to hear from national leaders how it’s done and meet with my colleagues from other cities.  I came away with several good ideas for both the short and the long term that I plan to work with the NAUDL to begin implementing.”