History
In the early 1980s many urban schools faced budget cuts and debate teams were one of the first casualties. The IMPACT Coalition has helped New York and other big cities to experience a comeback for debate.
IMPACT was founded in 1991 by Will Baker as IMPACT Foundation. The first concept was to use intercollegiate debate teams as mentoring programs. This model was based on the research of Pamela Kallbfliesch and Angela Davies on mentoring to counteract poverty and discrimination.
IMPACT became an affiliate of the Phelps Stokes Fund with Andrew Rainwater Jacobs as IMPACT’s first program director. In 1991, IMPACT created a consortium of urban college debate programs at Columbia University, Rockland Community College and Queens College called the NY Coalition of Colleges to match the resources of larger traditional programs. The first sponsored event was the Urban Workshop Series at the Church Center for the UN.
From this series, new college debate teams were developed at Baruch College, Fordham University, Columbia University, the New School and NYU. These teams partnered with corporate volunteers, alumni, experienced debaters, and coaches enabling each school to sustain its own debate program and present them on a wider stage. IMPACT changed its name from “Foundation” to “Coalition” to reflect the multiple partnerships that comprised its operations.
In 1994, IMPACT expanded its efforts to reach students who could not travel to weekend tournaments forming the Public Forum Debate League (PFDL). Baker recruited Yeshiva University and extended debate to faith-based populations previously precluded from debating competitively by their observances.
In 1997, the Open Society Institute (OSI) with Beth Breger, decided to replicate the existing Atlanta urban debate model. The first urban debate league replication was piloted in New York City in 1997. Thus, the New York Urban Debate League (NYUDL) was created in partnership with Emory University and with Baker consulting on behalf of IMPACT. The NYUDL launched the current era of urban debate expansion.
Read more about this topic: IMPACT Coalition
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