Lecture Series
Water Policy Lecture
In light of our desire to engage persons beyond the debate community who have expertise that can enrich our discussions of protection of US water resources, we created this limited lecture series. Throughout the summer, we aimed to host a small number of live, hour-long lectures for an audience of about 50 persons. Access to the lecture was through invitation and was intended to capture a wide demographic of high school and collegiate students, educators and debate professionals.
2021’s topic provided the WDI a platform to engage scholars, advocates and legal professionals who have experience and intellectual contributions around the topic. In particular, our theme was Protecting Our Waters and we focused on various areas of importance for protecting US water resources.
Criminal Justice Reform Lecture
Integrate diversity across all levels of the organization to ensure that decision-making and programming includes diverse perspectives and identities.
Key approaches
- Recruit, retain, mentor and promote individuals with diverse identities.
- Examine and reform organizational materials and programming to be more inclusive and to be consistent with our values.
- Solicit feedback on potential barriers to achieving greater diversity within our organization.
- Improve the accessibility of the WDI by expanding programming to a broader range of environments.
Diversify and expand revenue stream to ensure financial stability, sustainability, and operational flexibility
Key approaches
- Develop impactful materials tailored to a variety of fundraising campaigns.
- Apply for and secure more grants.
- Identify potential major donors.
- Establish revenue-generation services.
Improve curriculum to better serve our participants and support our outcomes
Key approaches
- Formalize program philosophy, structure and operations.
- Revise curriculum to integrate civic engagement, gender awareness and inclusion.
- Establish and systematize program evaluation measures.
Implement new programming to expand our organization’s impact and reach
Key approaches
- Effectively use technology to expand and create virtual spaces for students and coaches to facilitate education and community.
- Create a Mobile WDI to expand the geographical reach of the organization.
- Develop and provide training programs and tools for harm reduction relating to issues of gender-based harassment and safety.
Increase effectiveness of the organization through improved board governance and transparency
Key approaches
- Tailor committee structure to strategic priorities.
- Develop a transition plan to ensure long-term sustainability.
- Monitor and evaluate progress on strategic priorities.
- Construct a user-friendly website with refined content and deliberate messaging.
- Effectively use social media to direct community members to the website.
- Develop a communications strategy.
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