ICNY is seeking a faith-based group of high-school aged students in the Bronx to join our FREE debate program. It’s called “Debate in the Neighborhood” and is being conducted in cooperation with the International Debate Education Association (IDEA) and Open Society Youth Initiative. Our goal is to partner with several youth groups in the Bronx that have at least 8 students who would be interested in participating in the program. Currently, we have room for one more group. So we are turning to our Facebook audience to see if you might help connect us.
Debate in the Neighborhood began in 2012 with three youth groups in Queens, and has been tremendously successful. You can see a short video about the program here:
http://odysseynetworks.org/video/religion-without-borders. Also, the program has a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DebateInTheNeighborhood) and a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/DebateNeighborhood) that feature videos of the students engaged in various debate games and practices, to give you an idea of what the program is like.
Now we are preparing to launch a new phase of the program by bringing in three youth groups in the Bronx. This new phase begins later this month, and goes into May. During the first months, each group of students will meet weekly (after school or possibly on weekends) to practice debate with a trainer from IDEA. During the Spring break, each student will be teamed up with students from the other two groups, and each 3-member team will be assigned a debate topic relating to the subject of “Privacy vs. Surveillance Technologies.” These teams will then meet weekly for continued practice sessions, which will culminate with a public tournament in May, where all the teams will compete, and awards will be given. We will be providing a small stipend to each organization to cover costs for refreshments and transportation during the program.
A brochure with comprehensive information about this program is available here: https://interfaithcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/DiN-Brochure-for-Students-and-Families.pdf. If you know of a faith-based youth group in the Bronx that might be interested in this program, I would very much appreciate hearing from you.
Thank you,
Kevin Childress
Debate in the Neighborhood Program Coordinator
The Interfaith Center of New York
(212) 870-3510
Email: kevin@interfaithcenter.org
