The Bella Abzug Leadership Institute and the New York City Great Debaters are partnering up to provide a series of leadership and debate conferences for young women in New York City at Hunter College on February 11th and April 21st. All these events are open to all high school and middle school female students and schools for FREE . 

Our conferences include seminars and lectures on topics for young women presented by expert guest speakers, debate training, a debate tournament with an awards ceremony for all participants, mentorship opportunities and networking with successful college and career women, and more!

Our focus is Title I students and schools that lack many of these debate opportunities.  Our mission is to close the achievement gap by providing the very best leadership and debate training opportunities that are currently unavailable for the majority of Title I students.  A typical debate tournament runs in the thousands of dollars, which is only accessible to the top private and wealthy schools in the country.  We provide the same opportunities for free for anyone!

We  are working with over a dozen New York City Title I schools and growing including the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, East Bronx Academy, ACORN Community High School, Brooklyn Tech High School, the Institute for Collaborative Education, KIPP Academy Charter School, PS 278, Urban Civics Academy, and many other schools!

If you have any questions , please contact Yu Wai Maung, BALI Program Coordinator at 212-650-3021 or email: yuwai@abzuginstitute.org

Once I transferred from my 1^st CUNY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice to Hunter College, I knew that it would be the start of something great. September quickly rolled around , and as an entering transfer student I was looking for a program that can teach me many things in relation to my new major Political Science. Sure enough, I found the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute.

The first time I stepped foot into Bella Abzug Leadership Institute’s office at Hunter College. I immediately felt at home. The program coordinator, Yu Wai Maung, greeted me graciously.  She told me how excited she was to find someone interested for the fall internship and I told her how pleased I was to finally find an internship beneficial to my major.

Four hardworking, yet mesmerizing months later, I found that the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute is more than a program specially fitted for young political science majors like myself. I’ve met so many influential people that I wouldn’t have been able to come close to alone thanks to BALI. Attending and taking part in events such as the Anita Hill 20 Years Later: Sex, Power, and Speaking Truth Conference are things I consider to be milestones in my life. Hearing Ms. Hill speak about the struggles and obstacles she faced 20 years ago made me feel as if I was sitting in that courtroom myself the fall of 1991. Hearing her and her panel speak on issues such as acceptable behaviors in the workplace and being true to oneself empowered me.

My second event was located at Bergen Community College. Yu Wai and I traveled from New York City to New Jersey to meet with Ambassador Sichan Siv.  He is an international bestselling author of “Golden Bones”, an American dream story. Ambassador Sichan Siv was nominated by George W. Bush in 2001 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations. For me to shake his hand, knowing he overcame his own obstacles of poverty and genocide in Cambodia, truly humbled me. It was then, that I came to the conclusion that if Ambassador Siv was brave and daring enough to journey to America despite all the opposition and odds against, I can surely get to where I want to be in life.

Finally, meeting Liz Abzug, the daughter of the famous Congresswoman, social activist, and leader Bella Abzug,  was almost like meeting her mother face to face. It is apparent that Liz Abzug adopted her mother’s ideologies, leadership, and strength perfectly to build a successful “monument” in memorial of her mother.

It’s Anita Hill’s, Ambassor Siv’s, and Bella Abzug’s ambitious nature that inspires and brings out the best in young women like myself.

Ever since my first interview in 2011, I have never once regretted being a part of this amazing family. I have met amazing individuals and my only hope is that I will use their past experiences and knowledge so I can follow the same path to greatness and success

BALI’s Winter & Spring 2012 Interns

BALI's Interns

Angela Sabblah, Olivia Torres & Zahura Alam

Zahura Alam is currently attending CUNY-City College of Technology, double majoring in International Relations/Political Science. As a recent alumni of BALI, she is very proud and excited to intern with BALI. The type of work that BALI does draws her closer to this program because she has a passion in advocating for the fundamental rights of women and children. Raised by a single mother she constantly sees the troubles that women face, and with that she hopes to improve life for women across the world. She believes that from helping young girls,to those young girls helping others worldwide is something very meaningful and this is the type of change she wants to be a part of. In the near future Zahura would like to work at the United Nations, and she believes BALI is the perfect place for this because it can get her affiliated with NGO’s at the United Nations. Zahura claims that the 2011 Leadership & Debate Training which she is a graduate of has boosted her confidence and made her dreams in life become visible because it added to who she is today and what she stands for.