Why You Should Take The Foundations of New York City This Fall
Why You Should Take The Foundations of New York City This Fall
Applications close Aug 31 // the 2025 city elections have already begun // knowledge compounds // join the network // learn legal concepts that apply to the state and federal gov // have a good time
The Foundations of New York City (Cohort 10) will run from September 16 through November 18 this fall. Applications are open through this Friday.
This is Part I of a two-part series. Part II is entitled “What To Do After Taking The Foundations of New York City.”
Every time I open applications for Foundations of NYC, people ask some version of this question: “Is it worth taking now, or could I wait until a future cohort?”
While everyone has personal considerations, I think it’s always worth taking the class sooner rather than later if you’re interested in how NYC works and want to get involved.
But it’s especially worth applying to cohort 10 if you want to be knowledgeable and connected for the next city elections in 2025. Want to understand who’s running? Want to know what the stakes are? Want to have a bullshit detector? Want to be able to guide your friends? Want to have a good time, instead of finding yourself in a voting booth guiltily filling in bubbles while not knowing what any of them mean?
Apply before the deadline this Friday, August 31.
Why should I take the class now, if the elections aren’t until 2025?
Because they’ve already begun, and you’ll be out of time if you wait until cohort 11!
Candidates will be declaring their intent to run for office from now until early 2025. From February through April they will be asking for your support in various forms, including via petitions—those clipboards with (usually) green sheets people ask you to sign after asking if you’re a registered Democrat.
After that, the primaries (which often function as the consequential elections, since most districts are not competitive in the November general election) are in June 2025.
Here’s a calendar:
Knowledge compounds
Knowledge, like money, compounds. It’s best to acquire it earlier if you can, and reap larger compounding rewards.
If you want to be knowledgeable and effective for the 2025 elections, learning how the city government and politics work now will put you an order of magnitude ahead of someone who learns after the winter holidays.
The network
Further: political capital (specialized knowledge and personal relationships) takes time to build. You can’t do it in a one week sprint.
It’s best to learn how the system works and start testing that knowledge against the real world now (with the help of me and others if you want). If you wait until the election itself, it is far beyond too late to do much.
Applicability beyond city government & having a good time
You will learn legal concepts and frameworks that analogize to the state and federal level, which will give you more insight into those elections that are happening this year as well.
Since most people don’t know anything about politics, learning the real thing typically causes them to become more optimistic. They not only learn about things that work really well, but they find out many of their fears are either (1) misplaced, or (2) addressable.
You do not have to have a bad time during a presidential election cycle.
What will you really learn in class?
If you’re new to a subject like government, it can be hard to imagine what kinds of things you’ll learn.
You can review the course syllabus here. But if you want to get a more visceral feeling of your own knowledge level relative to a successful course graduate:
Exelsior!
I hope to receive your application before Friday. Otherwise, I am always happy to get a coffee to discuss the future of New York City and America.
