The Problem: we need more experts at the New York City and State level

Strikingly few people understand how the New York City and State governments work—both inside government and out. Why? Because there is no place where they can go to learn about it. The university system doesn’t help. On-the-job training doesn’t cut it.

But the City and State can lead the way for the nation. These levels of government do far more than most people suspect, and they are accessible in a way that DC isn’t.

The Solution: create them

MNY will train 10,000 people by the 2029 citywide elections, and network them together to lift state capacity and pursue novel affordances in governance.

The curriculum, called Governmental Mechanics, fundamentally integrates practice alongside theory, and emphasizes action.

The Means:

Fund basic governmental training

Maximum New York is a non-profit, but a for-value.

Before September 2023, it was supported almost completely by the market—the tuition that students paid for The Foundations of New York: City. This feedback loop is vital, and will remain.

But now is the time to go faster. Institutional funders looking for high impact should focus on training tens of thousands of people in Governmental Mechanics across the country. If you think we need to rejuvenate our industrial base, you’ll probably agree that we need to do the same to political instruction, and for many of the same reasons.

Accelerate Maximum New York.

Be entertaining, be good

Civics already has a bad reputation as a boring field. But this isn’t the fault of the field—it’s the fault of generations of terrible teachers. Good political and civic instruction requires outcompeting Netflix. If you, as a would-be civics instructor, do not go to open mics or perform your material in public, you are likely not good enough.

You are likely doing damage to your field by reinforcing its boring reputation in the minds of your students. If you’ve ever had the thought “people are too apathetic to learn this,” you are probably blaming others for your own inability to relay the material in a compelling fashion. The call of civics is a call of excellence.

Background

Founder: Daniel Golliher

MNY’s roots stretch to early 2019, when Daniel thought, “I’d like to learn the structure of NYC’s government.” That one project quickly became many (and included producing a map of the NYC charter), and his desire to understand the mechanisms of the city merged with his hope for its future. The result is a new civic philosophy, and an organization to house it.

He holds a Government degree from Harvard College.


Events and appearances

Hottie Bop

Stanford New York Alumni:

@danielgolliher founder of @maximumnewyork explaining to @stanfordnewyorkalumni the political structure of #NYC with his equally elite skills at slide presentation and cursive whiteboarding, so we can be hopeful at getting involved at the right place to make a difference.
Well-attended and deeply engaged event at @stanfordinnewyork.


Contact

For any questions or comments, you can email Daniel: daniel@maximumnewyork.com or DM him on Twitter.

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