Baltimore Urban Debate League

Cause Area

  • Children & Youth
  • Community
  • Education & Literacy
  • Justice & Legal
  • Politics

Location

2601 N HOWARD ST STE 150BALTIMORE, MD 21218 United States
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Organization Information

Mission Statement

The Baltimore Urban Debate League is dedicated to improving educational and life outcomes for disadvantaged students in Baltimore’s under resourced public schools. By creating learning opportunities through competitive debate and professional development with teachers to bring the benefits of debate inside the city’s classrooms, we support and inform the educational reform and revitalization efforts now underway in our district. Through the motivation and thrill of competitive debate we improve self esteem, increase academic achievement, improve graduation rates and access to higher education. For young people of promise, for their schools and their communities, we provide a new vision, hope and opportunity.

Description

The Baltimore Urban Debate League (BUDL) uses the art of debate to change lives. BUDL brings learning to life by making it relevant, real and fun. In competitive debate and in the debate classroom students do more than just memorize and spit back facts, they own and direct their learning, they approach a topic from where they are and by doing so they find their voice, their purpose and their power. Students in BUDL develop a thirst for knowledge and become inspired to seek and utilize new information.

BUDL was founded in 1999 as part of a national initiative driven by the Open Society Institute to tranform public education by bring debate back to the urban classroom.

From the League’s modest beginnings in 1999 when 90 pioneering students and 16 teachers in 8 of the City’s most challenged neighborhood high schools began to learn the skills and techniques of competitive policy debate, the League has expanded to involve more than 1,000 middle and high school students and more than 75 BCPSS teachers from 35 high schools and 25 middle schools each year in a rigorous program of after-school debate training, independent research activities, debate team practice sessions, and monthly competitive policy debate tournaments.

Today the Baltimore Urban Debate League is America’s largest and most successful urban debate league, a flagship within an urban debate movement which now includes over 400 public schools from urban debate leagues in 16 of the nation’s largest cities.

Reviews

Would you recommend Baltimore Urban Debate League?
1 review Write a review
by F B. from MD (2017-01-24 20:37:59.0)
Just judged my first debate. The kids were fantastic -- I was so impressed!!! I have no debate background, but did some research beforehand and had no problems learning what to do the day of the tournament. Organizers were great! Highly recommend BUDL.
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