About the Role
SVUDL helps high school students from low-income backgrounds in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties tap the power of their voices to compete, excel, and change the world through the academic sport of Speech and Debate. SVUDL has been working with high school partners in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties over the last eight years and has reached thousands of low-income students of color with the opportunity to learn critical thinking skills, self-efficacy, persuasive communication skills, teamwork, and other important life skills that have resulted in academic success. As the organization strives to address educational equity issues in Silicon Valley, SVUDL is looking to how it can have even greater impact. In the Fall of 2022, SVUDL’s Board of Directors approved the organization’s 2023-2025 Strategic Plan. This plan will guide the organization to expand its footprint and impact over the next three years by continuing to implement its tried and tested program model. At the same time, SVUDL will continue to evolve its programming to not only ensure high, measurable impacts on students, but also substantially increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who participate in SVUDL programming.
To accomplish this work, the plan outlines four key priorities that will continue to deepen and broaden our impact on youth from low-income backgrounds living in Silicon Valley.
- Strategic Priority #1: Scale SVUDL programs utilizing a multi-pronged approach that maximizes participation with school and community partners.
- Strategic Priority #2: Build a community of educators who will broaden SVUDL’s reach and deepen impact.
- Strategic Priority #3: Expand impact measurements and share them with the community to earn and grow philanthropic investment and institutional and community support.
- Strategic Priority #4: Evolve organizational capacity to support efficient, impactful growth and contribute to the overall financial sustainability of the organization.
About the Company
The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL) empowers high school students, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, to reach their full potential to become professional and community leaders by teaching critical thinking and communication skills through Speech and Debate programming. The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL) was founded in June 2014 by a coalition of local educators and community leaders to fill a startling gap in educational opportunities in the high-poverty schools of San Jose and the Peninsula. Initially SVUDL reached out to schools, districts, and community partners to assess the demand for debate as a solution for students who were disengaged from academics. The enthusiasm of their response was overwhelming, and the wave of demand inspired us to grow quickly. Starting with two pilot programs in August 2014, SVUDL launched three more programs in the Fall of 2015, three more in the Fall of 2016, and now partners with 13 high schools in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, serving more than 550 students through both in-class coursework and afterschool programming.