Urban Debate History

The History of the Urban Debate Network

The birthplace of the Urban Debate League is Atlanta. Melissa Maxcy Wade of Emory University founded the Atlanta Urban Debate League (UDL) in 1985 in partnership with the Atlanta Public Schools as represented by Dr. Larry Moss (Therrell High School) and Betty Jessie Maddox (Harper High School). During this early period, similar initiatives emerged in schools in Detroit (led by Dr. George Ziegelmueller) and Philadelphia.

Impressed by the success of these efforts, the Open Society Institute (OSI) convened a summit of leading academic debate educators in Atlanta in 1997 to share strategies for bringing debate to underserved populations. In order to support the replication of the Atlanta model, OSI established the Urban Debate Program, offering seed funding to local leaders who sought to build a UDL, and providing opportunities for urban public high school students to participate in competitive debate.

Inspired and guided by the work of Professor Wade, Dr. Moss, and Ms. Maddox, and led by the Open Society Institute, the Urban Debate Program fostered the emergence and growth of UDLs in 14 cities between 1997 and 2003: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, Providence, the San Francisco Bay Area, St. Louis, Seattle, Tuscaloosa, and Washington, D.C.

As the Urban Debate Network grew, communities of students, teachers, educational administrators, and business and civic leaders around the country turned to debate as a tool to increase academic achievement, provide a bridge to college, and develop leaders. Approaches to building vibrant, sustainable UDLs were refined and developed. What follows are a few highlights:

In New York, Will Baker (the founder and Executive Director of the IMPACT Coalition) leads the New York Urban Debate League and incorporates the “Youth Development” approach to urban debate programming. This work has been heralded by researchers as preparing “young people to fully participate in our democracy as informed, competent, and responsible active citizens.”

In Chicago, Les Lynn led the efforts of the Chicago Debate Commission, which launched the Chicago Debate League in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. The success of this League informs the NAUDL’s approach, which embraces school district institutionalization and administration of UDLs.

The Baltimore Urban Debate League, led by Pam Spiliadis, has grown to offer a full slate of competitive and educational opportunities, including city and suburban debate tournaments, a middle school league, public debate events, community debate outreach, and college access workshops for debaters and their parents.

In ten years, 33,000 students have competed in UDLs from urban school districts with approximately 87% minority and 78% low-income student populations.

The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues

As OSI began to phase out funding for urban debate, it formed the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) in 2002 to carry forward the success of the Urban Debate Program. The NAUDL’s mission is to facilitate participation in organized debate activities for as many urban students as possible.

The NAUDL has emerged as a premier leadership organization of the urban debate movement. It builds new Urban Debate Leagues, strengthens UDLs and promotes school system institutionalization, expands the capacity of existing UDLs, and connects UDLs to form a cohesive Urban Debate Network. The NAUDL also cooperates with and encourages the work of the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate (ALOUD) and the National Debate Project (NDP), whose work promotes and supports debate in communities across the country.

The NAUDL Expansion Plan

Over the next three years, the NAUDL plans to significantly increase urban debate participation by:

BUILDING UDLs in cities whose districts serve nearly 330,000 urban high school students, including:

• Dallas (launched in fall 2007)
• Denver
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• Memphis
• Oakland/Bay Area
• St. Louis
• Tampa

STRENGTHENING several existing UDLs in districts serving an additional 250,000 high school students, including:

• Boston
• Detroit
• Rhode Island

EXPANDING the scope and quality of debate coaching and instruction.

CONNECTING existing UDLs through networking programs and services, including administrator conferences and the Chase Urban Debate National Championship:

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Baltimore
• Chicago
• Kansas City
• Miami
• Milwaukee
• Minneapolis
• New York
• Newark
• Orange County
• Providence
• Seattle
• Washington, D.C.