08/08/2023
Dear RIUDL Community,
I’m writing this letter to share with you a difficult decision made by our Board of Directors in partnership with myself, the organization’s Executive Director. The Rhode Island Urban Debate League will be dissolved as of August 31st, 2023. As of this writing, we have already begun the process of closing down our operations.
If you’re reading this, you’re one of the hundreds of community members who have helped build and support this organization since we began as a program of Brown University all the way back in 1999. As such, I want to assure you that the decision to close was not taken lightly. RIUDL has always been a very tiny organization making a very big impact on the academic and advocacy skills of young people from majority BIPOC, low-income communities.. Unfortunately, navigating the balance between the organization’s staff capacity and our financial sustainability has often been extremely difficult.
Since the pandemic, we have struggled to regain our famously high levels of community engagement. This, coupled with a major funding shortfall and staff transitions has left the organization with no other option.
But fear not! Debate is not going away for our high school students. I’m thrilled that our sister UDL, the Boston Debate League, has agreed to open up their policy debate programming to our Rhode Island schools. Stay tuned for news about how you can support Rhode Island students to debate in Boston.
In closing, I want to take this opportunity to again thank our current and former staff, board members, volunteers, donors and coaches for their endless contributions over the past 25 years. Most importantly, I want to thank the hundreds of young people who invested their free time and intellectual energy to build a community where they were safe to think critically, take risks, and be powerful.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to check out these FAQs, or reach out to me at [email protected].
Thanks again,
Phyllis Gingerella
Executive Director
Rhode Island Urban Debate League
Why is RIUDL closing? We’re closing due to a combination of staff transition, budget shortfall and sharp decline in community engagement since the pandemic. I hate this!!! What can we do to save the organization? We hate this too! Unfortunately, we’re pa
